My Favourite Quilt - Dragon Fortune Quilt

At the moment people are sharing their favourite quilts as part of a link up at Sew Mama Sew so I thought I would share mine. It wasn't easy to pick just one but I chose this one as I felt by the time I finished this one that I was moving in the right direction with quilting!

Tell us about your favorite quilt. When did you make it? What pattern did you use? What fabrics?
This was a quilt of my own design. My son (older teenager at the time) had asked for a dragon quilt and I had trouble finding something that wasn't too childish so started gathering fabrics which felt 'dragon-y'. Later I found the feature fabric used in the border at a stall at our Quilt Fair in Adelaide. It came from Logan's Patchworks but I can't recall what it was called and I don't have any left at all, much as I wish I did! The centre dragon is the Good Luck Dragon, a Smee Designs pattern which I doubled in size and machine appliqued with satin stitch using embroidery threads.

The four corner designs I found on the internet and are meant to mean (clockwise from top left) Blessing, Long Life, Happiness and Longevity.  Hopefully they do as it was hard to find these designs so not sure if the meanings are accurate.  The blocks in the centre of each border were drafted from a tiny photo of a block I saw in a magazine somewhere.

Have your shown it at any quilt shows or entered it in any contests?

No I have never shown any of my quilts at any quilt shows. Maybe one day I will who knows?!

What memories or people does the quilt make you think of?

As it was made for my son, it reminds me of him and although I called it Dragon Fortune, its known in our house as Kieran's quilt!

What do you like best about the quilt?

There's not much I don't love about this quilt. It came out the way I wanted it to. The central black area is the first time I ever free motion quilted a quilt and is done in monofilament thread. This quilt was such a long time in the planning process that it was such a joy to finally get it finished and have it turn out so well.

How did you grow as a quilter while making it?

I learned a lot about making designs fit and quilting, including free motion quilting. I also learned not to have the iron too hot when doing the final press on the back as I managed to melt the stitching on the back of one of the corner panels and had to re-stitch it again!

If you could make this quilt again, what (if anything) would you do differently?

Not a thing, I love it just the way it is!

Where is the quilt now?

It is on my son's bed and he loves it so much he doesn't even take it off the bed in summer, which here in Adelaide, South Australia can get mighty hot!

Linking up with Sew Mama Sew's My Favourite Quilt Series.



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