I’ve been busy – albeit with things other than quilting lately – but I did manage between other things to finally complete the last bluebird sample top. As I expected there was quite a lot of “un-sewing” and replacing of unsatisfactory pieces. It was hard to get enough contrast between the medium-ish backgrounds and the medium-ish bird. Today I will layer, baste and begin the quilting which may help.

I will probably darken at least some of the white spots which to me have a somewhat Bluejay look to them, though I was hoping they would look more like sparkles of light.

Here’s a shot of the cover sample which has better contrast, next to the new one,  but I am not un-happy with the second one

which has a softer, naturistic feeling. Well, spell check doesn’t like THAT word, but you get the idea!

We’ve enjoyed some wonderful fall weather which demanded that I spend time outside so I have done that, cleaning up flower beds, weeding, digging cannas  and planting new things for next year. Things like three each of four varieties of perennial Salvias in the sunny border, a couple of Mukdenia rossii ‘Karasuba’ which is a new one for me, I was only able to find reference to it in one of my books, another crepe myrtle and half a dozen ‘Cherokee’ Blackberry bushes.  There’s more to do, but that’s it for now!

Ooops– bad color, bad focus, but you get the idea. Did you spot the offending piece? I did replace it and I think now the end of the branch shows better. Or it would if it were in focus!!

Shopping at Sarah’s in Lawrence the other day, I found some fabrics I would like to use as background for the bluebird. And since Sarah’s needs a Bluebird sample, I thought, why not?

I am always on the lookout for large scale prints for these picture quilts so I was drawn to these big batik leaves and the grasses. Blue dogwood flowers are a bit weird but interesting! I already see something that may need changed!

The challenge will be to find the right blues to pop against these muted tones.  Today should be fun!!

I’ve been busily packaging the new Bluebird pattern and it’s ready to go! Third in the series of Picture Piecing patterns, these have proven to be very popular! Straight seam piecing with color and numerical sewing order listed makes it easy for anyone to create a lovely wall hanging.

I first offered “Bluebird” for sale in Oklahoma and it went well – I’m so glad people are finding them fun to do! Check out the Pattern section of the website to see all of the patterns available!

Oh, gosh! Has it really been 10 days since I last posted? Rose asked “What is Spring Cleaning”? and all I can say is “Lucky Rose”! Move to the muddy country and get two big dogs and you will know!!

It has been raining so long I have lost track of how long, but the ground is saturated and squishy the ponds are overflowing but the flowers are loving it. Too bad we can’t get out to enjoy them. Last fall I planted two yellow Crown Imperials and they are blooming now. I was able to grab a photo during a few sunny moments.

Such an elegant flower with it’s jaunty cap of green leaves! I will be sure to plant more and hope they multiply.

I finished the Bluebird quilt but need to charge the camera batteries to get a picture later. So far we have not seen any real bluebirds in the area. It seems like they should be here by now. The first Hummingbird arrived last week.

Tuesday evening I had a guild presentation an hour and a half away. Thankfully the weather did clear for that one day and so I had a lovely drive, and a great visit with the Starlight Quilters of Shawnee, KS. – though it was a late night, arriving home at 11:30. Yesterday was spent putting patterns away and figuring out the monetary stuff, shipping orders and running errands, followed by an evening of theater. The show was “Death of a Salesman” – a real downer and another late night out.

Today I MUST put the quilts away.

Spring is good, but I think I like Fall better. Fall doesn’t have Spring Cleaning. We had the perfect day for washing windows, overcast, cool but warm enough to have windows open and even to be outside cleaning, so I did the four windows in the studio. Of course it is not just the glass……you have to take down and wash the curtains as well, and the venetian blinds too, which may be even worse than the windows! But it is done and that feels good. The whole room seems brighter! Now I need to do the rest of the house!

i did try to take some flower pictures today on my walk, but it is so windy they are all blurry. It looks like it has snowed under the crab apple trees there are so may petals on the ground.

I have about half of the bluebird quilted and it is looking good.

I want to get back to it, but I really need to get the books caught up and get the sales tax sent in as the deadline is fast approaching. The business side of things takes so much time away from the fun side of things…..

The bluebird top is done! I did have to make a few changes and tweak some bits – like the white on the belly. White was too white. Off white was too white. I ended up using a piece that was cream with shadings to beige and gray, but it looks pretty white. I also ended up taking that piece out and adding a bit more rust to make a better shape. And a piece on the shoulder needed to be taken out and replaced with a darker blue. It is hard to find that wonderful electric bluebird blue in fabric!  I pulled all of the brightest blues I had, some were too green, some were too purple, but I think these work pretty well – you just can’t duplicate the brilliance of the real thing! some of these fabrics were printed as water, one had nice linear effects. One was even a blue cabbage! Be open minded when searching for fabric. Everything is darker in real life than what I am seeing on my monitor, but I have learned that my screen tends to be a little on the light side so I hope you are seeing it correctly!

Many of the seams are not yet sewn in this photo, and before the final sewing I changed some of the background. It seemed like a darker border on the left would enclose it better.  I think that making use of the design wall is so helpful  but you have to be willing to toss a piece of  fabric or unsew a seam – really it doesn’t take that long and is SO worth it! Often the fabric isn’t even wasted – in this case I used the lighter piece inside behind the tail where it was more effective. After quilting, I will probably bind this in the dark ferny fabric.

He still needs a twinkle in his eye, but that will come later….

It was a rainy weekend so I stayed inside and worked on the bluebird. Here’s a progress shot.

My husband made three more bluebird houses that need to be put up asap whenever we get a break in the weather. So far I don’t think they have arrived but it should be any day now!

The Amaryllis has also been busy! Here is it’s second bloom shaft that had four buds with two open so far.

You can see where I cut the first one off. I can’t tell yet if the other shoots will flower, but if not this year, it should be quite fantastic next year! It will need a bigger pot for sure….

The Bluebird piece is underway! I want to enter this in the Aullwood Audubon Center’s exhibit with a May 15 deadline.

Thursday I had to do some shipping so while I was in town, I visited the exhibits at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery and at the Warehouse 414 which both had art quilts on display. the pieces at the warehouse, by Leslie Jenison of Texas were very nice and I enjoyed seeing them in the setting of Mid Century Modern furniture, architectural salvage and antiques. One of my pieces at the TAG, Bathsheba, received a first place ribbon!

Yesterday we drove out to collect a printing of 2000 more Third Weekend In October patterns – that was sure a good decision to go ahead and write a pattern for that quilt! It is my best seller with nearly 30,000 copies sold!

It was nice to see that the redbud trees are starting to bloom and recent rains have really greened things up – time to look for morels!

But today I sew!