My quilt was not inspired by the Geico commercials, though I
do enjoy them! My husband Bob and I often
spy little green geckos on our window or door screens. Sometimes one of the lizards will get inside,
and then I carefully scoop it up in my dustpan and let it loose outside. I’ve long toyed with making a lizard quilt
and even thought of using the word “critter” when I chose the theme, but then I
changed my mind. As soon as I heard what
our theme word was this time, I thought about making a quilt featuring green
geckos.
I found coloring book images of two geckos of different
sizes, which I used for templates and cut them from two different green
batiks. These I fused, using Wonder Under,
to another batik that had blue and green jungle-like foliage on a black
background.
I layered this to cotton batting and then began hand
quilting with embroidery stitches, following the designs of the foliage, using
either blue or green floss. I started out quilting just here and there, but somehow I
just couldn’t make myself stop, so it ended up having a lot of hand
stitching. Next I added tiny green beads
to both lizards, and I used orange beads for their eyes.
To finish the edges, I stitched small, closely spaced,
zigzag stitches around twice with black thread, and then once each with blue
and finally green, using rayon thread for all.
The backing is a fabric I absolutely adore—a lizard print that I’ve had
for some time, which in addition to the little live geckos that often visit us,
served as an inspiration for this quilt.
So now at long last I have made a lizard quilt!
Love these cute little geckos! The background is perfect and the beads and the stitching add dimension and texture to it. I'm so happy that you were able to make your "critter" piece for my theme.
ReplyDeleteCritter would have made a great challenge word! And apparently many of us so far have done a critter. I love the embroidery and the beading. Marvelous job as always!
ReplyDeleteWell I'm glad you did your geckos. They are awesome. Love the colors, the composition, the execution, everything about this piece just works visually..........Great Job
ReplyDeleteThe geckos are so cute! My son has one and I like them - not everyone likes lizards. I like the ones that speak with an English accent too.
ReplyDeleteI love picturing the creatures on your window sill. You find so many to report on. Although I also love your background fabric, I would love yours more, there! Nothing like hand stitching and one's own cutouts. You knew right away what you wanted to do. I will now feel closer to those ads.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun my cats would have with a loose gecko in the house, so I am really glad that they are not a Northeast "critter" because it would not be pretty! Anyway, I love that you have had the opportunity to make your gecko quilt. Your batik background with the hand stitching is perfect as are the beaded geckos. This quilt looks like it "flowed" for you and that you enjoyed creating it.
ReplyDeleteOH My! All that hand quilting and beading! They are the perfect touch to your quilt. Those guys look like the ones that crawl on our window at night and torment our cat. Great fabric choices!
ReplyDeleteLove your geckos!!! They remind me of all the geckos that have made their way into our home. I once made the mistake of trying to over winter several ferns in our house. I put them in the kitchen sink to water them and a "million" geckos jumped out and ran all over the house. We found geckos for months! I think your hand quilting and the beading on the geckos was just the right touch! Clever!
ReplyDeleteI love all your stitching and beading - I think Geckos are so much fun to watch and they look great on your quilt
ReplyDeleteCute little geckos - all of them.
ReplyDeleteAlaska is obviously not 'critter conducive' for exotic species so I was enthralled with geckos on my first visit to Hawaii years ago. Funny how we think a reptile is 'cute'... but it is. Your quilt makes me smile and I applaud your beading and extensive hand stitching. Yay for you Alice.
ReplyDeleteAlice, congrats on making your lizard quilt. You chose perfect fabrics, especially the jungle leaves batik. I would love to see this up close to see all your beautiful hand stitching!
ReplyDeleteBarbara, this is one I'll bring to Houston! I think I told the Houston goers to bring 5 or 6 of their favorite MM quilts! That's going to be hard for me--I love so many of mine. But I think I can hone it down to 6 anyway!
DeleteAlice, I have always been intrigued with geckos. I love your depiction of them The beads are wonderful addition. I wish I could see the hand quilting better. Can't wait to see in Houston.
ReplyDelete