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.