Last week, I finished the watercolor of the Giant Swallowtail on the Zinnias.  It’s hard to know when to stop.  Perhaps I should have stopped sooner, but at least I did finally stop!  My favorite watercolors are those that look fresh and spontaneous, and not overworked. This was beginning to go there!

I started a new one, of my late Komondor, Griffin.  I used mask to define the edges of some of his cords and let the background wash flow down into that area to give depth and shadow. After lifting some of the color and softening the edges of the masked area, I am ready to attempt the definition of the cords. My instructor, Ye, said “Oh, another complicated one!” I think he does not quite know what to do with me!

I also finally made my offering for this year’s SAQA  12 x 12″ Benefit Auction.  The deadline is coming up so I decided this year to forego my usual pieced format and go with a whole cloth hand dyed piece.  When I first saw this piece of fabric, I saw within it, a woodland scene. It reminded me of looking ahead through the trees to what might be a clearing up ahead, so I free motion machine quilted the trees and the foreground foliage.  I think I might call it “Through The Trees”. 

Last week in my watercolor painting class we were supposed to do flowers.

I found a photo that I took several years ago of Zinnias with a Giant Swallowtail butterfly in one of my gardens and thought it might be a good choice. On Tuesday I made a nice start.

On Thursday I continued, adding more layers of color. I had planned on finishing it over the weekend, but did not find the time to do so. Monday I spent most of the day in town, so it didn’t happen then either.

I barely had time to prepare a drawing for Tuesday’s portrait painting class.  But we spent Tuesday’s class time looking at videos of excellent portrait painters working.  I really enjoyed that!  I’ve never tried to paint a portrait and I need all the help I can get!!  The plan for today is to try to paint something, but, among other things,  I also have to prepare and ship a quilt, plant two fruit trees and fertilize the roses!

Every day as I drive in to my classes, I am treated to so many beautiful spring flowers and blooming trees, so many shades of pink!

For today’s Focus Friday I am showing “Think Pink” which incorporates many many shades of pink. This little 32 x 40″ wallhanging (great size for a baby quilt!) – could just as well be made up of any color that you like, to use up a lot of scraps. When I designed this original block, I was actually thinking of Breast Cancer Awareness pink.

INNOVATIONS #06949 “Think Pink” 32 x 40″ $9.00

The original pattern sample quilt, machine pieced and machine quilted, is for sale, $450.00

Yesterday we had a hint of springtime, as the temperature was a perfect 75 degrees and I spent an hour or so weeding in the perennial beds. Just those little weed seedlings that are so easy to get rid of this time of the year before they really dig in deep. My snowdrops are blooming right now and I am sure they would prefer it to be more seasonably colder. They always remind me of my wonderful trip to England and Wales which inspired me to plant them. Of course they will never be as lush here in KS as they were there!  Once again all of the buds on the Hellebores have been eaten by some varmint because I forgot again to put the wire cages around them last fall, and judging by the mass of chewed off stems, they would have been really nice this year. The catalogs all say they are deer resistant, but somebody loves them!

So far no dandelions, but it won’t be long!

My ultimate springtime quilt is “Just Dandy” which I made for IQF Celebrate Spring in 2008. It contains some lovely hand dyes.  It was juried in and traveled with that exhibit to several major venues. Then it went to other shows where it won several first place awards and a Viewer’s Choice. It is 41 x 41″ square and is for sale at $2750.00. I should get it out and hang it  to brighten things up and bring the spring inside.

Today for Focus Friday I will feature “Star Flowers”.  This is a variation on the old traditional Seven Sisters design. I found the old yellowed newspaper clipping in a box at Houston Quilt Festival and it came with the warning ” Experienced Quilters Only!” which only challenged me to make it easy enough for anyone, which I did!  I devised a way to piece it so that those points just happen. To finish it off, I designed the applique to mimic the shape if the stars and to me they resemble Clematis, one of my favorites. There is a LOT of applique, but the shapes are easy and can be done by hand or machine to compliment this popular bed quilt.

INNOVATIONS  94804  “Star Flowers”  86 X 106″   $9.00
click on PATTERNS in the side bar to order.

Pattern Sample Quilt for sale $2500.00 email for details

If you are dreaming of summer or just need a project to brighten up your winter days, check out Poppy!

Have you always wondered how these picture quilts go together? Here is a fun project to learn the basics so you might even decide to go on and design something of you own! This one is all straight seam sewing, that goes together quickly in easy sections.

INNOVATIONS # 08754 Poppy! 24 x 24″ wall hanging pattern $9.00

Cover quilt for sale – $300.00

Workshop sample quilt for sale – $300.00

It’s January so the seed catalogs are piling up and I am starting to think about spring and new gardens. It’s a weird winter with the Forsythia already blooming confusedly in the rain! We know it is much too early to be planting outside, but not a moment too soon to dream of a flower garden quilt to while away the hours until Spring really arrives!

This is an original 12″ block design that I gave to 20 friends, along with a piece of the colorful batik and the instructions to combine it with coordinating colors from their own stashes and some yellow for each block, for a scrap quilt. When I got all 20 blocks back, I arranged them and added some flower blocks to make a Garden Path. A border of the starting batik gives a nice finish! In case you would prefer a one fabric background, that yardage is also included.

Garden Path – INNOVATIONS #06848 62 x 74″ $9.00

The machine quilted Cover Sample quilt is for sale, $1500.00. Email for details.

Focus Friday for this week is “Cornflower Blues�.  This charming original 12� block design was inspired by Bachelor Buttons, I love blue flowers, but being a fantasy flower, it can be made in any color you like. Since it only takes three easily pieced blocks and a few half square triangle units ( Papers included in the pattern) it is quick and easy to make!

I used this pattern one year to make multiple versions for Christmas gifts, based on the individual likes and styles of the recipients and their homes.

Cornflower Blues – approximately 24 X 28â€� Pattern: $9.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

Cover Sample quilt is for sale, machine quilted, $250.00 . Email me for details.

Fall has officially arrived and with temperatures last night in the 30’s, I can believe it! I do love the change of seasons, though, and fall is one of the best, but it does promise winter, which is NOT a favorite with me!

In honor of Fall, and the changing seasons, today I decided to feature the SEASONS banners. I designed these to hang either separately or all together with the shared fabrics complimenting each other across the surface.

They are grouped as patterns in sets of two that share the same fabrics. The backgrounds are pieced and the simple applique shapes can be added either by hand or by machine. They were inspired by the plants and animals that are drawn to our water garden/fish pond throughout the year.

SEASONS – Winter and Fall  $8.00

SEASONS – Spring and Summer $8.00

To order, click on Patterns in the side bar.

The SAMPLE quilts are also for sale at $150.00 each, email me if you are interested!

The wild sunflowers are still blooming like crazy so I think today I will feature another sunflower pattern!

I love combining piecing and applique together, I think it only enhances both techniques. Here I have used a simple log cabin type block set on point for the background of the appliqued sunflowers. The starting square of the log cabins is the brown center for the sunflowers, so all you have to applique is the simple shapes of the petals and the leaves! And to make it even better you do the applique on the pieced log cabin strips before they are sewn together so you are not working on the bulk of the whole top. I do try to make things easy for you!

INNOVATIONS 01327 Log Cabin Sunflowers
approximately 77 x 96″ $8.00 Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The sample quilt featured in the cover photo and pictured above is also for sale. It is heavily free motion machine quilted using a variety of threads including some metallic. The backing is a nice plaid that repeats the colors on the front.
$2400.00 Contact me to purchase.