It's Green and Purple Again

Look what's blooming in our front yard - our Wisteria.  And of course it's that beautiful purple and green.  Guess what I thought of?

My sweet little Purple Pickles.

In my ongoing quest to be a better photographer (really big LOL here!!), I took these pictures yesterday afternoon.  They look sort of "artsy" to me.  Can I just say again that green and purple make me smile?

The beauty of nature continues to inspire me.  

Happy stitching today,

Karen

Keeping Me Company

I finally got this hung in my studio today.  Dahlia Revisited is now officially set to keep me company.  I love the story behind this quilt and I think it's neat that this quilt is the one that is now hanging where I get to see it every day.  It reminds me each time I see it of my journey and my 45 years (and counting) of quilting.

The purple and green colors are so happy and the design is just so pleasing to me (which is a good thing since I made it).  I love piecework and applique - it's my favorite combination.

My studio is up over the garage in the bonus room space, so the walls are only 5 1/2 ft high.  This means my wall space is small and at a premium.  It may look a little "off" to be hanging so low, but it really fills the space and doesn't look wierd.  My wall are painted Marina Isle - a soft turquoise and so it looks almost like it was made for this room.

I'm a happy camper :).

The sun was out today and I spent time sewing. 

Perfect.

Karen

Mini Pickle Dish

My 16 blocks are done and are now waiting for me to find a border.  I really like how this turned out.

It's always hard when I'm just getting started making units to imagine what it will look like.

Even when all the arcs were done, it was hard to picture it.

And then at this stage, when it seems finished, I know how different it will look with a border and binding and how much it will change with the quilting.

I'll try and get some outdoor pictures soon, the colors really sing in this one.

Happy stitching,

Karen

A New Pickle Dish Project

I shared this picture last week in a blog post.  It's my new Pickle Dish project using green, purple and black & white.  I'm trying to use all stash fabric but I may need to supplement a few new pieces (darn LOL).

For those of you who follow me on IG  - you  may have seen this picture last week - the start of my new quilt.  I have made some serious progress since then.  All the paper piecing is done.

This is going to be a small project, it's actually a class sample for a class I'm teaching next February based on my quilt "Organic Pink Pickles".

This quilt only has 16 blocks, so there are only 32 arcs.  It seems easy after working on Pink Pickles last year which was so much bigger.

I designed this project in EQ7 and I've already changed the colors slightly.  I started in the center and am working my way out to check the colors and balance.  I like the warm purple center and the green outer corners.  The B&W dotty Kauffman fabric is a little bit of a stretch for me but I'm pretty sure it's going to work.  I'm trying to stretch those "modern" muscles with a traditional pattern.

I don't have a huge collection of cool purple fabric, so I'm auditioning the pieces I have.  I think they will work. 

It's fun to make small projects where every decision doesn't require two days of studying the design wall, leaving the room, coming back, checking again, etc., etc. LOL.  I know you all know what I'm talking about :).  

Having fun this afternoon - hope you're stitching something fun too.

Karen

Memory Quilt #4 and My Not Quite Formal Flowers

Here is memory quilt #4.  I  actually did what I set out to do - make 4 different patterns.  

What's really funny is that I thought I knew which one would be my favorite, but as I made each one, they all became special.  My favorite changed four times!!

We'll see which one ends up in my house.....

Last year I was obsessed with making these bright leaves, it was my car project several times.  When it was all said and done, I had over 400 and needed to think about what to make with them.  

My Dahlia Revisited was the first project to use a bunch of them.  Since I had to make more purple and green to make the colors work it didn't go very far in trying to use up my 400 plus leaves.

 I needed another car project last month and decided to start a vase of flowers with bright blue stems to go with the bright leaves.

I knew I didn't want it formal like "Vintage Blooms" below, so it's quite modern I think :).  I like the B&W vase with the colored leaves.

So instead of Baltimore Album like this.....

I got this!  And did you notice there are no flowers - just leaves?  They are not in their final places yet, but it's pretty close.  The yellow dot for the background will work for this once I get another border around it to set it off.

I've started the applique but it's now become a lunch time project at work, so it might take a while.

And since this is the year of green and purple for me, I'm getting ready to start a new green and purple quilt.  This time I'm adding black and white.  I've drawn it out in EQ7 so we'll see how things go.

After the sadness lately, there's a lot of  happy color therapy going on :).

Happy stitching today,

Karen