Monday, March 22, 2010

and... we're back

So, spring break is over--we came back from our little trip last night and the boys are going back to school tomorrow. It was nice to get away but it wasn't the most spring-like weather--it got very cold and snowed a couple inches. We came home to about 4" of snow on our lawn.

I visited a couple of quilt shops and my favorite was Charlotte's Sew Natural. Here's what I got there:
The four fat quarters on the left are from the Dolce line by Tanya Whelan. I think they're so pretty. And I had to get the stripes and dots from Heather Ross's Lightning bugs collection too.

The fuschia in these goes well with some other fabrics I got a while back from Sew, Mama, Sew:
These are from the Timber line by Jessica Levitt and all of these prints (ok, not so much the pear tree) remind me of learning about them in botany classes in college. Gingko, magnolia, maple. The Norway maple tree was the first plant I ever identified using my dichotomous key, A Utah Flora. My university also has ginkgo and magnolia trees on campus. Magnolias are among the most primitive of the flowering plants. And the ginkgo is cool because it was thought to be extinct, and it is unique in the plant kingdom. I could go on, but I have wild children here who need to be put to bed.

I finished up my quilt top for quilts for kids today. Here it is before I added the borders:

A quick note about my watercolor quilt--a couple of people asked if I could do a tutorial on it, and I can't do that because it is from a pattern written by somebody else. The pattern was in the May 1999 issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine--it is called Colourwash Checkerboard and was designed by Deirdre Amsden. That back issue is sold out on the QNM website, but you might be able to find it elsewhere. I was able to find a book by Amsden, Colourwash Quilts: A Personal Approach to Design & Technique, at Amazon. It's out of print but there are quite a few used copies for sale. If any of you get this book and make your own watercolor quilts, please let me know!

I have been working on a little flock of chickens today, maybe I'll show you tomorrow.

7 comments:

bevkimmel said...

I love your new fabrics from Charlotte's. that is my favorite store too. I could spend hours and hundreds if I had no self discipline!

Dena said...

I love these fabrics. Do you know what you're going to use them in yet?

Elizabeth said...

Oh, love the quilts for kids quilt. That is really nice. And what fun fabrics! Glad you got something nice.

lej619 said...

HI thanks for the information on your watercolor quilt. FYI I went on EBAY and found a number of the book "watercolor" by Deirdre Amsden you have to click on "include title and discription" and about 5 books came up. and some at a very reasonable price!

Nanette Merrill said...

I'm glad you had fun on spring break. The fabrics are wonderful. Love them and the top is lovely.

Erika Mulvenna said...

Those are wonderful fabrics! So bright and springy.

amylouwhosews said...

I love your fabric acquisitions! I think I took the same botany class as you - was your final walking around Provo for 2 hours while the Prof. pointed at something and said #1. #2. #3. etc? It was interesting but too much memorizing for my taste!