This art quilt is a gift for my mother’s birthday. She loves dragonflies, so when I saw the pattern I knew I had to make it for her. The pattern is the Dragonfly Mini Mosaic from Cheryl Lynch Quilts, which I picked up at my local quilt shop, along with a small mix of 2.5" batik squares in the colors needed. The squares are then cut down to 3/8” tiles to fill in the mosaic, and often these get cut down further to fit the curves and other tiny spaces.
The inner teal border and raspberry binding are both Grunge fabrics, and the outer border is a pretty batik I saw while shopping, and thought would go great with the colors and theme.I made the borders a little bigger than suggested, so it measures about 14.5" x 16.5". I did some free motion quilting around the dragonfly, grass and cattails.
If you’re curious about the technique, the artist has a few videos about the process on her own website. I forgot to snap a picture of the back, but it’s the same as the wide border, with teal triangle pockets for hanging it. And just as I was taping up the box, the mail truck drove by, so I was able to send it right out! I love when that happens.
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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You did a beautiful job selecting your fabrics…and I am glad now to see that you picked the plainer binding because the dragonfly center is most definitely the focus…
It truly is stunning! I am sure your mom is going to be thrilled!
I just can’t see how you got it done so quickly with all those little squares!
Well, the squares didn’t need to be sewn down, so that certainly helped! LOL
1 Like
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
5
I just watched the video…I did not realize how tiny the squares were! It is like doing one of those diamond paintings (a bit larger, of course)…but they truly do look like mosaics and not the ticker tape quilts I have seen that are large and different shapes…they look like tile mosaics without the weight…I see a couple that I would love to try.
Your batik border complements the scene perfectly! I was leaning toward black, but the raspberry binding works really well and was a good choice. I love the varying colors of the mosaic tiles and the overall look of the entire hanging. What a great gift!
That turned out great! It’s funny how the netting disappears, you can only really see it very close up but it will hold all the bits and keep them from fraying so they stay looking like smooth enamel tiles. That is a very cool technique. I watched her video, she basically gives every step away, what a generous crafter! It would be very worth it to buy her kits though because they include all those lovely batiks and the sticky webbing. Very cool.
This is gorgeous! Thanks for showing us the piece up close - it’s even better seeing the dimension of it. I love the way the mesh adds texture. It kind of reminds me of a mist around the pond!
Also…3/8" squares? That’s bananas! Did your eyes cross when you were working on those little pieces?
The extra wide border was a great touch, especially with that jungley batik you picked.
It’s stunning! I had never heard of this technique before but it looks gorgeous. I read on her website that she was inspired by a trip to Israel - when I saw your quilt, the first thing I thought of was an old book I have full of pictures of old mosaics in the Holy Land.
This is so beautiful!! I’m excited to hear what your mother thinks!
I’m going to look into that “style” of quilting. It seems like it came together so quick!
Also, thanks for involving all of us in votes at the Quiltalong. Lol. Felt like we were all invested in it and now it’s beautiful and done and off to its recipient.
There was an example made up at my local quilt shop. They used non-batik quilt fabrics, and it really changed the look. The border they used was a medium dusty purple with lighter purple swirling vines, and it gave it a much more children’s bedroom feel.
This is stunning! What a lovely and generous gift!
I am glad I read all the comments, because I really got a better idea of just how tiny the mosaic pieces are and verification that there is netting over the mosaic. I LOVE THIS! The netting really does give it a cool, artful look, and is reminiscent - in this case - of how the scene would look either from behind netting worn attached to a hat of the viewer or inside a butterfly net as it was swooping in to collect this dragonfly!
Stunning! I love to learn a new technique in something I already do, like sewing. I am going to have to check this out. I love the colors and everything about this.
<3
