It’s the Year of the Dog. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year? Yes, Happy Chinese New Year! And Happy Island Batik Ambassador New Year as well!

Chinese New Year fell on the 16th February this year, so we have now entered the Year of the Dog. Celebrations commenced on Chinese New Year’s Eve and will traditionally continue for two weeks past New Year’s Day. This period is also officially known as both the Chinese Spring Festival and the Batik Jamboree. There are many amazing and colourful celebrations happening in our local Chinatown. So I thought we should celebrate the Year of the Dog too, with a new mini quilt!

Wait! Really? You haven’t heard of the Batik Jamboree? The Batik Jamboree of the Fabric Zodiac? The beginning of the Island Batik Fabric Lunar Calendar? No? Oh! I shall have to fill you in……

2018 – Year of the Batik Dog

One of my fabulous readers, Sandy P, pointed out that I have been a bit remiss in my excitement in pointing out what an Island Batik Ambassador actually does. Many of you will remember last week I shared the contents of a box of goodies that Island Batik sent me because I am to be an Island Batik Ambassador this year. These fabrics are their current release batiks, as well as some fabrics that will be available to stores soon – ask your local quilt store to get them in! The job of the Island Batik Ambassadors is to showcase these fabrics, each Ambassador in their own style. Oh yes, didn’t you realise, the Chameleon has Style! hahaha snort!

Monthly Inspiration for You

So anyway, starting mid February (like the Chinese New Year), the Island Batik Ambassadors are given a monthly assignment to make a project with some of the fabrics they have been sent. (Hence the slightly loony references to the lunar calendar.) These monthly assignments are actually fairly loose parameters, but give some welcome structure to the way we use the fabrics sent to us. There is certainly plenty of scope within these instructions….. for instance, this month we were to make a mug rug and a mini quilt. Next month is “try a new-to-you technique”. And so on.

So every month you will find on Clever Chameleon a new project made with the latest Island Batik fabrics, but Dione flavoured. There are nearly 50 Island Batik Ambassadors this year, so if you love batiks and are looking for ideas on how to use the latest fabrics, you are sure to find lots of inspiration in this network.  I hope you will join us on this remarkable adventure.

So, back to the Year of the Dog Mini Quilt

The first assignment in the Island Batik Year was a Galentine’s mug rug. But due to shipping delays, my mug rug was batik-free.  So, really my Island Batik year is kicking off today, with our second assignment. Which is “make a mini quilt, 24″ square or smaller”. I have chosen to celebrate the start of my Island Batik Ambassador Year by getting all excited about the coming year that is filled with so much batik potential. And to mark the beginning of this year I have designed and made a Year of the Dog batik mini quilt.

The Making of my Year of the Dog Mini Quilt

I had a lot of fun with this project. I used the bright red birch tree trunk batik, the dark red spotty batik and the hot pink hand-dye from the Galentine’s bundle sent to me by Island Batik.

And the Mustard, Primrose, Peach and Carnation Bubbles fabrics from my Batik Foundations bundle.

The bright red birch tree fabric was perfect for this project. Since I had just a fat quarter of it, this determined the size of my Year of the Dog mini quilt. Turned on its side, this fabric gave some “woods-iness” to the quilt and background texture, without drawing direct attention to itself. It’s a tiny bit reminiscent of the texture of the bamboo slats that many Asian wall hangings are made from too.

Surface Design

The dog, date and flowers are raw edge-appliquéd. The Dog and other motifs are gold (mustard), because red, yellow and gold are the most important colours in Chinese New Year celebrations. The pink blossoms are a nod to Spring and are also a common theme in Chinese celebrations of the New Year. I embellished this quilt with red and pink buttons I inherited in my husband’s Gran’s button collection. I think they really lift the quilt.  Raw edge appliqué has a tendency to look a bit flat when used without any bling.

I also used a metallic gold thread to embellish the Chinese lantern. This was my first attempt to use metallic threads on my HQ Sweet Sixteen machine. It went quite well, given that I wasn’t in the mood to change my needle out for a bigger eye like I should have. I did slow my stitch speed riiiiiiight dooooooown though.

Finishing Touches

The background is quilted with free motion wavy lines. I was going to walking foot quilt them until I realised how many appliqué pieces I had to go around. So I chalked some guidelines on and stitched them freehand. I love the extra texture that this has given to the background.

Finally, I bound my mini quilt in the the darkest red fabric that Island Batik included in the Galentine’s Day bundle. For once I took the time to do a traditional binding and hand-stitched the binding on the back. My quilt finished at 17.5 by 21.5″.

So there you have it. My bright red and gold coloured Happy Island Batik New Year mini quilt for health and quilty prosperity in 2018. I hope to have the Year of the Dog appliqué design available to you soon. But I have to get the Yellow Bear finalised for the beginning of March first….. I’m really feeling the brevity of February this year! Are you? Do keep an eye on the Clever Chameleon facebook page for the first glimpses of the Yellow Bear coming soon!

P.S. If you are playing along in the Monthly Color Challenge and want a chance to win $25 credit from The Fat Quarter Shop, don’t forget to link your blue projects for February at Patterns by Jen before the end of the month!

P.P.S Linking up with my favourite linkys this week, some of whom are also Island Batik Ambassadors too: Freemotion by the River, Love Laugh Quilt, Cooking Up Quilts, Quilting Room with Mel, Inquiring Quilter, My Quilt Infatuation, Quilt Fabrication.

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