Sunday, June 2, 2013

Flowers, flourishes, a finish....and new fabric

Today's letter is F.

Flowers

Poppies in our back garden: so pretty, so fleeting.






In early June drifts of phlox Dame's Rocket brighten shady roadsides and, here, the bank of Dead Dog Creek Ravine(Thanks to Janet for providing the correct name with this link explaining the difference.)







Ravine restoration continues this season: this netting shades dozens of native plants (sedges, grasses, and wild flags (that's another name for iris)) to be planted along the creek.


Flourishes: on Saturday my guild hosted a workshop by Jan Krueger of Hearthside Quilters Nook. The subject was Borders, Too . I don't go to many quilt classes because it's hard for me to devote an entire day. I'm glad I indulged this time, because I learned some great design ideas!






A finish: Little Dipper, pieced in 2008, is finish #19 for the year.  It is 64 x 64. Back and binding used 3-1/8 yards.   The smaller picture shows the "almost-feathers" design I like to use in borders.   (The HSTs in the middle border are the cutaway triangles from the blocks. They are 1" finished.)








New fabric:  on Friday I went to a P.E.O. committee meeting in Oak Brook (50+ miles away). The meeting ended early and since I was in the neighborhood*  I went to Pieceful Heart Fabrics in Lisle (see my May 12 blog post).  The retirement sale prices were 40% off.  When I saw the Nancy Drew fabrics last year I wanted to get some, but I couldn't  choose among the colorways offered and then I couldn't decide what quantities to get.  At Pieceful Heart my dilemma was resolved: they had four of the prints. I bought the book cover panel and yardage.  I don't know what I will make but when inspiration strikes I will be well-stocked. ** (And as a result of Saturday's workshop I can try something imaginative.)  * Oak Brook is 7 miles from Lisle.  **I preferred Trixie Belden to Nancy Drew, but they haven't made Trixie Belden fabric. Yet.
I'm linking up with other quiltmakers for Design Wall Monday at Judy's Patchwork Times.

5 comments:

  1. Little Dipper is beautiful! Poppies don't grow well in my climate so I always enjoy seeing them... so lovely.

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  2. Congratulations on finish number 19! I like the colors you used; gold and blue seem to always go together well.

    Lots of poppies in gardens around here; I love seeing the brief orange blooms.

    The "phlox" is actually an invasive called Dame's rocket; you can tell by the number of petals. Phlox has 5 and Dame's rocket only has 4. We have lots of it (Dame's rocket) along the roadsides here in upstate NY.

    http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/05/dont_confuse_dames_rocket_with.html

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  3. flowers are beautiful!! hubby dear keeps whacking off my poppies the thinks they are thistles..... Blue and yellow quilt is beautiful!!!

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  4. Your Little Dipper is so mellow toned, I love that quality in a quilt, good job! Thank's for the info on Dame's Rocket, too, who knew? But the Nancy Drew panels absolutely MUST be cleverly worked into one of your thousands of Bookcase quilts, LOL. It will be perfect!

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  5. Spring is way late up here in Anchorage. Just got our flowers planted last weekend. Tomatoes are in the greenhouse.

    School has been out over a week and I've yet to touch needle to thread. I haven't since last August. School and organizing a conference took all my time. Hopeing to pull some things out this week as the sewing table is now cleaned up.

    Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were a huge favorite of mine growing up. I often read one a day and Mom could hardly get me to the library fast enough to check out a couple more. I think the limit was five books. That was WAY too few for me. I could read that in less than a week.

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