A Blast From The Past

This week I thought it would be fun to share a blast from the past.

A few months ago we moved, and in the process I discovered a lot of old treasures and special things I had forgotten about or hadn't seen in a long time. I thought it would be fun to show you one of those treasures I found buried in a box.

Way back in the dark ages (1976) when I was in high school I was minoring in art. I loved being able to try out different mediums and finding the things that I was good at and that fit me. For one of my finals I had to do something in fabric. I remember our art teacher didn't care what it was or what kind of fabric item we made, but it did have to reflect us and show a real effort and creativity. It didn't take me long to figure out what to make. I love to sew and I love embroidery, so I combined the two into a wall hanging.

This is my dragon! I designed the image by looking at tons of pictures of all kinds of dragons and then drawing my own version. I drew the dragon on a large piece of denim and then started embroidering it. I really don't remember how long it took me, but I do remember my Mom and Dad asking me over and over "are you still working on that thing?" There are over 100 scales and then all the work on his tail and face. I used about 5 different stitches on it and loved making it the whole way through! The finished piece is 36 x 28! I had forgotten how big it was.

These are pictures of me finishing up the dragon. They are old, old Polaroids, in fact the one is all cracked from age. The top picture is me working on the last scale. The bottom one is my doing the last embroidery stitch. 

When he was done I backed the piece with muslin and made a pocket at the top so I could hang him up. My parents loved the finished piece. It hung in the school for about a month and then I brought it home with an A+. My art teacher loved it. He hung in my room until I graduated from high school and then he hung in every one of my college dorm rooms. I may just have to hang him up for a while in my craft room just for fun.

Photos copyrighted by Lois Jones