Cottage Quilt Designs

What does the image of a flower speak to you? A common theme you see in quilts are flowers-by themselves or in vases and wreaths. Many of my quilts have flowers in the blocks.

I took a photo of minature iris blooming right now in my garden.

As a designer of quilts I immediately plan how I can translate the living flower into fabric. And then I started thinking-why do we put flowers in quilts so often? What do flowers say to us or are we trying to preserve their memory? In my quilt, Floral Fantasy, I put iris in one of the appliqué strips.

The iris is one of 8 appliquéd flower strips. What do flowers say to me? In the season of spring they do describe hope to me-rather hope fulfilled! After a long winter of snow, ice and chilling temperatures we see life come up again through the ground in awesome colors and forms that only the Lord God, our creator could fashion and open before our eyes.

I think too that I put flowers in quilts because they make me think of the beautiful side of life. I try to preserve their richness for the days when things aren’t going well and the glimpse of them cheers my waking hours. Or maybe I preserve them because their richness makes me feel like a queen when I have a bowl of fresh flowers sitting on my table. Whatever the reason I am so thankful the Lord God made them.

Do you like to add fast appliqué designs to book bags, T-shirts or quilts? Here’s a new design added to the catalog:

Here’s Miss Kitty and she fits within a space of 7″ x 11″. I have used a pigma pen for the facial lines but you could embroider them as well. Or-how about making it into a redwork or bluework block instead?

You can find the pattern in the children’s design or appliqué sections in the catalog.

Finished the Spring Wall hanging for my daughter just in time with spring officially starting this morning! I added pinwheel blocks to the sides of the quilt in pastel colors from the panel blocks.

My daughter and I like it much better now. It just didn’t look finished before.

So how do you celebrate spring? My husband and I like to walk the trails set aside in our city or take bike rides on these same trails. They are paved and run where trains used to travel through town. Or as bird watchers we journey to wood lots or state parks to find the warblers and other birds flying through to the north of where we live.

The REAL celebration (in my opinion) happens when you can work in the garden beds. We don’t have a vegetable garden-our lot space is too small. My husband is going to dabble with growing lettuce in part of our flower bed. I’ll let you know how that turns out!

“SPRING!” shouts the wall hanging below that I am making for my daughter. The blocks are from a panel by South Seas fabrics. Hancock from Paducah is selling the panel and fabrics that go with it.

The top is waiting her approval before I baste and quilt it and the batik fabric bordering the blocks are from my local quilt shop.

Doesn’t it make you want to get your fingers into the garden soil? We have yet to see a real live robin in our yards here in Michigan where it has just snowed again this morning. But I’m waiting for those warm breezes and setting those young flowering plants into the garden beds!

I’m still working on the hollyhock wall hanging slated for the summer change of quilts. I posted a picture of it some weeks ago. Here’s back to my sewing table!

It’s here! The second pattern for Kaufman fabrics is ready. Here’s a photo I took of the Mantle runner and stockings in Christmas Trimmings….

Our cat, Ginger, jumped up to the ledge of the woodstove insert to watch the angel chimes twirl. She’s on the cover of the pattern along with an insert of the tree skirt.

The homepage has a link to the order page for Christmas Trimmings.  All the projects have easy construction and the tassels are a snap to make too.