At the beginning of the year, I made a resolution to try and create

some of my own quilty artwork. So far, this hasn’t gone too bad.

Here is something I have been working on this week.

Each year, Quilt Canada  has a Trend Tex Challenge at its

National Quilt Show. As a member or non-member,

you can purchase a kit and create a small wallhanging.

The kit contains 5 large fat quarters and a theme.

This year it is “Living A Life in Green.”

Sounds quite challenging, doesn’t it?

When the kit arrived, the 5 colors reminded me of

a chameleon I had seen on Pinterest or Google images.

So, I had to try it out. The technique I am using was created

by Susan Carlson. She recently created a 26 ft crocodile using

this cut and paste method.

She lightly glues down small colored pieces of fabric until

it creates an image or picture.

It is alot of fun but intimidating when you first begin.

I had done another piece (8″ x8″), several years ago.

This lizard caught my eye because of all the texture  he has.

I wanted to try to recreate him in fabric.

I traced the outline of him onto white fabric and then I stitched

all of the texture on my domestic machine. I used some

interfacing underneath so that the fabric wouldn’t distort with

all the stitching on it. Then I colored in the greens, browns and

blacks with coloring pencils. Finally, I  applied a clear coat over

the whole top so the colored pencils wouldn’t wash off or be

rubbed off. It was so much fun that I am doing it again.

Here is his leg. I apologize for the blurry photo but you

get the idea. This is what I call the “ugly stage” because

it looks like garbage until more pieces are added.

Here is the finished Chameleon. I have to finish the background

and add his spikes to the top of his back. The deadline is quickly

approaching so I have to push myself to complete it on time.

I don’t think that I want to give him up though. He is the

perfect pet, I don’t have to clean any cages or even feed him.

Susan brought me this quilt, this past week. I immediately

fell in love with it. It is called “Cake Walk” by Lori Holt.

I haven’t quilted it yet but I am so excited to do so. Susan is

so talented. She looks at a quilt and then modifies it, and

improves upon it, in my opinion.  I can’t wait to get at this

baby, it is going to be so much fun. Susan pieced the cakes

together and then bought all types of trim, in order to

create the “icing” for the cakes. What a great idea!

I am so inspired once again by Susan’s creations, that I

have got to make a fabric cake postcard. Wish me luck.

March Break is interfering with my quilting once again.

What about your March Break?

Don’t forget to check out

The Canadian Needle and Thread Network.