Island Batik Ambassadors Endangered Species with Aurifil

This month's Island Batik Ambassador's Challenge was to make a quilt inspired by Aurifil's 2021 Color Builder's Endangered Species Collections.  I received some gorgeous 40 weight yellow threads inspired by the African wild dog. 

I had heard of the African wild dog before, but had not really examined what they looked like closely.  I adore their ears!  So fun.  But every time I started drawing the they looked like mickey mouse ears.  What to do?

I searched up a tutorial on how to draw an African wild dog and drew my own version.  I decided to place him in front of a bright yellow sun made from the yellow solid from Island Batik.  I also found this great dot print to make the dog itself with.

For my three Aurifil 40 weight threads I decided to quilt the yellow sun in thirds to show the difference in the thread colors.  Would it work?  I had no idea.  I do know that quilting fabrics in different threads can affect the way they look  and that is what I was hoping for.

I also grabbed a 50 weight brown to stitch down the African wild dog.

Now look at the finished product which of course has Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting inside.  Can you see the difference in the three threads?  Not too much.  Not what I wanted to achieve.  So, what to do?  Add more of course!  The sun need some coronal ejections after all...now you can see the three yellow threads better.

I used the lightest thread right around the edge and the darker two for the outward lines.

My son also insisted that I needed to add some shading lines on the African wild dog so he was more well defined.  I used a Pigma pen to do this and he was totally right.  He looks much more three dimensional.  

It was so fun to work with amazing Aurifil thread.  Especially the 40 weight which I haven't used that often.  I put used my favorite Schmetz Microtex needles and it worked quite well even with all the dense stitching.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

 

Be sure to check out all the other Island Batik Ambassador's Endangered Species with Aurifil Projects!

Megan Best – Bestquilter
Pamela Boatright – PamelaQuilts
Elizabeth DeCroos – Epida Studio
Jennifer Eubank – Archipelago Quilting
Jennifer Fulton – The Inquiring Quilter
Preeti Harris – Sew Preeti Quilts
Joanne Hart – Unicornharts
Mania Hatziioannidi – Mania for Quilts
Jane Hauprich – Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting
Connie Kauffman – Kaufmann Designs
Emily Leachman – The Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney – For the Love of Geese
Leah Malasky – Quilted Delights
Sally Manke – Sally Manke Fiber Artist
Maryellen McAuliffe – Mary Mack Made Mine
Claudia Porter – Create with Claudia
Gail Renna – Quilt Haven Threads
Brianna Roberts – Sew Cute and Quirky
Michelle Roberts – Creative Blonde
Gail Sheppard – Quilting Gail
Jennifer Thomas – Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster – Websterquilt
Janet Yamamoto – Whispers of Yore