Another bouquet of roses.....

When we go shopping for fabric most quilters migrate towards the strong jewel tones.  These are the colors that call out to us.  We simply don't have enough lights or darks in our fabric collections.  I've made it a point to try and work with lighter colors with my quilts.  You need the lights & then the mediums & finally the darks to make your quilts sparkle.  I took both photos as inspiration for working with light fabrics for my bouquet of roses series.

                                             

The following quilt shows how using a careful blend of lights, mediums & darks can really make all colors sparkle very nicely.  Since this photo was taken I've finished the quilt & it is now a workshop class sample.

Even though I tend to prefer jewel tone fabrics, I do love how these light fabrics worked in this quilt.

For the next two days I'll be teaching this technique at a workshop locally at Minding My P's & Q's quilt shop.  This is a great quilt shop with beautiful fabrics & great class room.  The owner of the shop, Jill (a very nice lady), has created an inviting atmosphere in her shop. I will definitely be shopping there quite often.  As soon as I can I'll post a picture of the covered wagon that sits out in the front of the store.  You can't miss it with it's painted quilt on the canvas cover.  

Multi-Color Bouquet

 A multi color bouquet of roses is a nice change from just having only one color.  My local grocery store will often mark down the bouquets that do not sell after a few days.  Lately, I have seen multi-colors in one bouquet.  From these bouquets, I separate the colors so that I can get at least three vases in different areas of the house.   I really like how the yellow roses have a little orange around the edges.

Here is another color way of the bouquet of roses series that I have made.  This is using the same basic pattern that I posted yesterday.  In this quilt, I've added preprinted flowers & other greenery.  Using a background fabric of leaves gives the appearance of this bouquet sitting outdoors on a table.   I also shaded the vase with a pale blue textile paint & shaded the table with a tan color to indicate a shadow.  It was fun to take this pattern & recreate it with a different color of roses, etc.  

I'll post another bouquet tomorrow.....

Bouquet of Roses

I wish I could grow rose bushes that I can take cuttings from to take indoors.  Since this summer's heat isn't cooperating, I've had to resort to either buying roses or sewing rose blocks to look like a bouquet.  Below is a picture of a red rose for inspiration.....

This rose was not the original inspiration for my pattern.  I developed a pattern a few years ago that would resemble the look of a real rose.  During August & September, I'll be teaching a workshop to my local guild, that will teach students how to create their own bouquet of roses using a specific technique to achieve the look of a blooming bouquet.  Below is a photo of the pattern that I will be teaching. 

It has been a lot of fun making this pattern in different color ways.  I designed this pattern as a way to teach students to stretch their creativity.   Like nature, bouquets can take on different looks depending on the placement of your flowers & leaves.  The only limitation to this bouquet is your imagination.   The following yellow roses quilt is a simpler bouquet with only leaves around the roses. 

I'll post more a little later.   

Tidy Up For Inspiration

If your sewing room is starting to look anything like the following few photos, it's time to clean up.  Scraps of fabric can be a great source of inspiration but, first you have to clean it up & organize it.  How you organize it is certainly up to you.  The point is to organize it so that you can work with your scraps at a later time.  I've certainly gotten into the habit of saving very small pieces. 

I usually refer to photos I've taken & other sources for how to combine colors.  Especially if I'm stuck & can't think of various color combinations.   Before you do this, tidying up your sewing area is a must.  At least it is for me.  After taking a break from working on my current project, I came back into my sewing area to these two photos & wanted to simply walk away.  Too messy for me even though I'm the one who made this mess.  I knew it was time to take a few minutes to straighten things out.

Today is Sunday & I still haven't cleaned up my space.  I just didn't feel like cleaning just yet.  Instead, I went for a walk around the neighborhood with my husband.  To be continued......

Beyond The Garden.....

So the photo below isn't from a garden but beyond the garden.  It's actually the tile from a restaurant that my husband & I visited.  It has great lines for a border.  If you take some of the smaller designs from it & reposition them, you can even use the designs in a block.  On the top part of the photo, you can also see the swag design that we've all seen appliqued in Baltimore Album Quilts.  Oh yes....my Baltimore Album blocks.....sigh.....I still only have the same four or five & haven't made any more progress just yet.   That project will have to sit & wait til I can return to it.  In the meantime, I will enjoy whatever I'm doing.....yes....this includes everday things too......

  

Quilting For Your Borders

What do we really see?  If we're paying attention, the great outdoors is a plethora of quilting designs such as the following photo of a gold butterfly enjoying my hot pink zinnias.  For a quilting design, simply trace the outline of the butterfly image & zinnia & you have a quilting outline for your quilt borders.  So how do you connect each design?  This is where you implement a meandering design of your choice.  So how do you know which design to implement?  You simply have to just try a design.  Practice with pencil & paper first then move on to practice on a small quilt sandwhich if you're apprehensive about trying it.  The point is to just do it.  Get over the hurdle of, "I can't".   Try something out of the ordinary for yourself.  If you make a mistake, no one will know.  If one new skill doesn't work for you, simply move on to a different skill.  Imagine learning a new technique & enjoying the process.......

Quilting Designs From The Garden?

Yes! You can find quilting lines/designs in your garden or anywhere outdoors.  You just have to pay attention to what you see.  Do we really look at what we see?  Not always.  While in my backyard weeding, I stumbled upon a very intricate, interesting design that would look great on a quilt.  A spider web.  I spotted this very small spider right by my climbing mandeville, waiting for lunch to be lured into it's web.  Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to look at what you see....

This spider must have caught lunch because it's no longer there.  Spiders are not my favorite part of a garden but they do make a contribution by existing.  I know many quilters who have quilted spider webs into their quilts & they make for gorgeous artful quilting.