SUNSHINE!!!!

The old adage, "April showers bring May flowers" did not hold true today.  We have a beautiful sunny day and I am so ready for Spring.

I wanted to bring some "sunshine" into my decorating for spring.  So I dragged out some of my quilted pieces and hung them up.  It does cheer me up.

Even my hubby commented on how the quilts brightened up the rooms.

In the living room I hung these two:

This one is hanging over the mantle. This is Lady Aubergine and it is a tad too long, but that doesn't bother me!!

I hung my "Open Windows" quilt over the quilt cabinet.  I added that globe that the hubby brought in from one of his flea market shopping trips.  I love the color of it. 

 

I put up my Springtime Garden Window Valance in the Breakfast nook.  This piece just makes me smile when I look at it.

 

This next piece is a recently completed piece in my Tree Series of quilts.  This one is called  "Fallen Trees and Spring Blooms".

I love the green batik background in this quilt.  The concept of this piece is the blooming spring flowers as a backdrop for the fallen trees along the river bank.  We have had a pretty nasty winter and many of our trees are down.  Of course, these will make for some nice habitats for the wildlife.  In and around the fallen trees we are seeing the early spring flowers sticking their little heads up through
the leaves on the forest floor.

WELCOME SPRING!!!!!

                                                                -sandi

 

 

SPRINGTIME GARDEN WORKSHOP 2013

Four wonderful, excited women gathered for a 3-day Workshop.  Lots of laughing and sharing went on as we worked on our projects.

Day 1 was spent making small flying geese using a traditional method of half-square triangles.  These were combined with four patches and we had some wonderful Bear's Paw blocks.

 Then, we learned how to use Eleanor Burns Flying Geese ruler to make larger flying geese for the borders around our medallion center blocks.

Gayle chose some lovely modern fabric lines to make her blocks.  These make me think of springtime picnics.  I can just hear the birds singing!

You can clearly see the larger Bear's Paws that formed when the borders were added.  Jan's choice of Civil War fabric with cream gives this a much softer look.

This is Jane's blue and cream choice to coordinate with her blue/cream draperies in her dining room.  By using the variety of blue prints, she gave some real energy to her piece. 

Linda chose black as her background fabric.  Wow!  that just makes the red and greens pop.  She also chose to change the direction of her outer flying geese and turned this into a beautiful almost 3-D look with a Square-in-a-Square variation.

Each lady's personality was quite evident.  It is always fun for me to see what choices for fabrics the students make as they prepare for a class.  I really get to know who they are as they make their projects.  Some will follow the sample I provide exactly and others will personalize it to make it their own.

When I look at this display, I immediately associate each lady's smile and style to her blocks.  Sometimes you see a bit of personality emerge that is not always evident when you are simply having a conversation.  The photos are always such a fun reminder to me of the wonderful folks I meet when I teach.

Here is the sample they were given to introduce them to the project.

What a wonderful three days!!!  I was unable to get pictures on Day 3 since I left my camera at home.  <SOB>

Maybe I will get the opportunity to photograph their completed projects later and share them with you then.

                                            -sandi


 

Color Palette for Springtime Garden Runner

 


I loved this palette when I discovered it on Pantone's website.  I could hardly wait to make something with this as my inspiration..

 

Somewhere I had seen this block and had made a sketch in my Ideas Journal thinking I would use it at some later date.  In order to not lose the flavor of the block, I made this mock-up block from some scraps of fabric I had in a drawer.  I had saved it for a future project.  Many times I will make up a block or a couple of blocks so I don't lose my idea and then set them aside to come back to when I am ready to make a quilted item.

 

Later I was contacted to do a Workshop for a group of ladies.  The Workshop was scheduled for this spring and I decided to use this block as the focus of the workshop.

 

This Workshop is a techniques workshop designed to teach two ways to do Flying Geese; using Prairie Points in the body of the quilt; and finishing off the quilt with straight-line quilting on the home sewing machine.

 

There are options in this workshop.  One could make four blocks for a wall hanging; make one block for a small table topper; or make a runner.

 

My version is an oversized runner that I have turned into a valance for the double window in my breakfast room.  Perhaps I will make a couple more blocks and finish them off as matching place mats.

 

 

This is not a very good picture.  The black/white background fabric gives it a little modern twist.


                                                  -sandi