Cheerful Dragon

"Cheerful Dragon" is a wonderful name for a dragon. I looked at many websites to find a dragon that wouldn't scare my 8 year old grandson every time he slept under it.  He had seen a quilt I made for his much older half-brother and he wanted one too.  I told him I would make him a quilt, but it would not be the same as his brother's, and asked him what colors he liked.  With his information in mind I searched online for a dragon that would be suitable and found this delightful, smiling creature on a fabric panel.  Then I searched for Chinese characters to incorporate in the design, and asked his Chinese father to approve their meaning, which he did.  Designing was easy as was construction.  I just had to make sure the pieces fit together.  It was fun to do something quick and easy.

This is the only photo I have of this quilt so you will have to pardon the extraneous elements in the background (extra feet, etc.)  As you can see, this quilt became a Christmas gift that year for a happy little boy.

I ran into very few problems constructing this quilt so it was finished quickly and easily.  It mostly entailed careful measuring and cutting. You know the old adage, "Measure twice, cut once."  There is an interesting article about measuring and rulers by Jenny K. Lyon here.  I have read that you should choose one brand of ruler and use it for all your various sizes.  Personally I like the green OmniGrid rulers, and they are available in most quilting outlets.

Hoping that the quilt would be used and loved, I did not spend time with lots of fancy quilting.  The exception is that I quilted all the defining lines of the dragon and stitched every scale on his body.  Around him I quilted straight rays, which originated from the center.  The borders are walking foot straight lines 1/2 inch apart, and I outlined the characters and stippled the red panels around them.  See Leah Day for lots of quilting ideas.

TIP:  You guessed it.  Measure carefully, accurately and often.

TIP:  Stitch in the ditch in all the seams.  This will avoid slippage as you do the decorative quilting and makes it all look so much better.