something stitched

For many years I have collected shot cotton stripes with many from the Kaffe Fasset Collective.  One rainy spring day when I couldn’t plant my outside flower pots an idea came to me.  Actually, I was cleaning and rearranging my stash of striped fabrics.  The over-sized Tumbler template from Missouri Star Quilt Company caught my attention for its potential as flower pots. Of course, there had to be both vertical and horizontal stripes cut and then arranged on the design wall with solid shot cottons as the border.  The flowers were fussy cut from various KFC florals with leaves from my dyed vintage linen leftovers and other scraps.  While not yet quilted (because I had to sideline for cataract removal) I think it will be fun to think about how I want to “decorate” the pots.

For those who will ask about a pattern, there isn’t one. I used the tumbler template to cut two pots from a fat quarter, one horizontal, one vertical.  Border pieces were cut using half of the tumbler template (guidelines on the template). Leaves were free form cut, stems were from some leftover bias binding and are about 6.5 inches long. Many more flowers could be added as desired.  It would also be a fun table runner with flower pots at each end of the runner.

The birds are so happy.  They are singing such a happy song and have been since before dawn.  A sure sign of spring along with the fact that we are sleeping with our windows open the last few nights (in our south Teas winter home).  But, we are packing to head back north and look forward to seeing the bluebonnets peppering the pastures of Texas and are betting when we get to northern Arkansas, southern Missouri we will start to see the dogwoods blooming with the early warmth.

What I look forward to are the redbuds blooming.  We live on a dead-end road that happens to have quite a sprinkling of redbuds throughout the timber surrounding our property. Looking at my fabric stash last spring I realized I had quite a collection of bright magentas and pinks along with the huge tote of greens. A quilt plan was percolating, something easy, using a pattern I already had designed.

I cut 10-1/2” squares of all the magenta and pink I had gathered. Next, cut lots of green strips. Here comes the easy part of making improvisational blocks. Cut magenta square vertical and insert green strip. (No, you don’t have to find exact center, just make a straight cut.) Cut horizontal and insert green strip. Cut diagonally and insert green strip. Cut diagonally in opposite direction and insert strip. Trim block to 10 ½” square. I love using the Creative Grids ruler for doing this because of its center markings making it easy to balance the resulting wonky block.  Because the blocks are improv each is very different but to add to the variety. I made the first cut in several blocks and then alternated to have differing magentas in each step of the cut and insert.  However, I still like nice, neat finished look so added brown sashing to tie all the blocks into a throw size quilt.

This whole improv process is a fun way to use a precut package you might have in your stash as well.  Precise measurements rather than improv also make a great throw.

Enjoy the photos to get the idea.  A fun workshop, retreat or guild challenge too!!