I had so much fun learning to needle felt on this little project!! The story behind my Sun Angel's Art quilt follows. In some African countries the meerkat is known as the "sun angel" as it is thought to protect villages from the "moon devil" or werewolf. I just discovered needle felting and wanted to make an art quilt with some felted, fuzzy meerkats. While digging for ideas in my stash, I stumbled upon a gorgeous button that clearly resembled the sun! An image of a glowing savannah came to mind and the Sun Angel quilt was born!
The savannah is often shown in shades of yellow and brown and I wanted to make sure my savannah was stunning, so I weaved strips of cotton fabric backed with fusible webbing and fused them down to canvas to create my background.
I thread painted the savannah trees using my newly acquired free-motion skills (smile). The fuzzy meerkats are made from felting and shading with various shades of wool-felt blends.
My inspirational sun is a wooden button. The glorious shimmering sun's rays, sewn with gold metallic thread, provide the quilting for this piece. The edge treatment is a coordinating yarn, couched in place.
The shadow meerkats are cotton fabric that I dyed with inks and fused in place. There are various other embellishments throughout the piece such as buttons, hand embroidery, and wood.
Sun Angels...not your typical house "kat."