Charley Harper ladybugs

I made this felt picture based on Charley Harper’s ladybugs a while ago as a break from quilt-size appliqué projects, but I never got around to posting it. Then I caught wind of the Charley Harper Quilt Along and thought it’d be a good time to share.

Judging by the enthusiastic interpretations people have posted to the Quilt Along pool, Harper’s illustrations are ripe for reinterpretation in fabric. My fabric for these ladybugs, wool felt, is relatively boring, but it was a fun, manageable project to stitch up on a whim, and the felt gives it a little dimension.

The Quilt Along’s got me itching to work up some more small Harper-inspired pieces—I’m almost done with a goldfinch in needlepoint that I’ll have to get a photo of. We’re moving house in a few weeks, and I’m envisioning a beautifully composed wall of Charley Harper needlework in the new place: the fused fabric pictures the Mother made for me, a quilt from this pattern I found, maybe some cross-stitch, and whatever other fibrous experiments get my needle aflutter.