Our first challenge is in for Twelve by Twelve. The theme word was Dandelion. I tried drawings of dandelion flowers and seed heads, but I wasn't happy with any of them. I instead went with the color, Yellow. I searched high and low for yellow embellishments and just kept adding them until I ran out of time. I'm not sure I could find much more. They include: Yellow cotton fabric, yarns, glass and seed beads, brads, artificial flowers, raffia, wire, embroidery floss, metallic thread, ribbon, and buttons. There may be more if you look hard enough. I had a lot of fun adding everything, but I don't think this is a path I will go down often. Often when I asked my husband what he thought of the piece I got a strange look. At an early point he said it looked like the seventies. I don't think you can even see the swirls of needle felted yarn anymore though. My daughters have a better appreciation of over embellishment. The under eight crowd thinks anything with a little sparkle is beautiful.
My original thought for the compostion was a yellow river with fields of flowers on either side. I added the beaded river, but probably could have used more large glass beads. I used all I had and didn't want to spend more money. It then turned more into a wetland with the bits of raffia poking up. The fake flowers, button and ribbons are the fields of flowers on either side.
I lost track a bit of the dandelion theme. I had the impression that everyone else was taking a more literal approach to the topic. Finally, I decided that the title "Dandelion Wine" fit the piece. My great-grandmother would tell of making dandelion wine when she was young. The piece looks somewhat like the craziness of having too much wine. 
I just can't resist openning a box to find another little box inside. It is so much fun to travel down the path of box after box to discover what hides inside. Okay, currently there is nothing inside the smallest of these quilted boxes, but one day I might find a treasure.
To create these boxes, I began with a piece of fabric I had used to wipe up paint while painting some Red and Green fabric paper. I then quilted it using red metallic thread on top and green in the bobbin. The tension was tight so the green thread came to the surface adding specks of green along the quilting lines. I then used this quilted fabric to create little boxes by zigzag stitching the sides together. The fabric was soft enough to be able to manipulate it under the sewing machine. The smallest box is a 1 inch cube and each box is 1/4 inch larger. The largest box is a 3 inch cube.
These will make a fun addition to my Christmas tree, tucked in among the branches. And who knows, maybe there will be some treasures hidden in there.
