Peonies, Iris, Swallows.... and more

We're enjoying a lush spring here, thanks to soaking rains in April. Look at our peonies, they just opened up. The colors are almost garish! You'll also see an Iris card I made from my beloved scraps. Our Iris are in full bloom too. And graduation is this weekend....
The garden is sprouting and we planted new trees in our yard: 2 redbuds and 1 cherry. mmmmmm. Dad's tomato plants go in the garden today: Snow's lily bulbs too.
Our barn swallows are back. There is a pair that take up residence on our front porch every spring and stay through the summer. They are already sitting on the nest so we will have chirping babies soon.

My William Morris Adventure

So, if your fabric designer friend gives you some of those precut bundles and tells you to go to town, how far will they go? For me they produced 5 sides of small quilts (4 quilts total) = not bad!
Barbara Brackman’s new Moda fabric line, The Morris Workshop, is her second featuring William Morris prints. She gave me 1 jelly roll (2 1/2” strips), 1 honey bun (1 1/2” strips) and 1 packet of turnovers (6” squares cut in half diagonally). Yum. And she let me play in my unstructured way. Here’s what they produced:
Improv (above): 37” x 47”
Turnovers: 30” x 49”
Rail Fence (a 2 sided quilt): 22”x 44”
William mini: 8” x 24”
I love the colors in this line, they are rich, rich.

Rosemary's Shirt Mania

In the past year Rosemary Cromer became obsessed with SHIRTS.
She bought shirts at every thrift shop she passed. She made several quilts with shirts. She lent one for the gallery of my book. Another became part of the Country Living Classics Exhibit. Scraps became postcards for our guild exchange.
When I was at her house the other day she showed me the REAL reason she started working with the shirts: to make a quilt for her bed. It's so cool, look at the great setting triangles she is using. She opined that she was through with the shirts so I called her bluff. I said, cool, let me put them into a rug for you. OH NO! She wasn't ready for that. She instantly thought of a few more small projects she wants to use them for before she lets them go.
Rosemary got obsessed and has stayed obsessed. Good for her.

Brookside Art Fair full o found objects

I got to trot through Kansas City's Brookside Art Fair yesterday and was pleased at the number of artists including found objects in their work.
My favorite was art by Sarah Kargol. She makes monsters! Many of her monster bodies are fabric gleaned from none other than thrift stores. And she is from Bath, South Dakota. who knew!
check out her web site to see many found object wonders.

Ah, May

I looked up May Day and found this:

…The beginning of May was a very popular feast time for the Romans. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers. It was in her honor a five day celebration, called the Floralia, was held. The five day festival would start April 28 and end on May 2.

My husband’s mother was named Flora. Flora Ova to boot. Floral names were popular the year of her birth, 1912. My grandmother, born the same year, was named Thelma Iris.

Enjoy this funky basket, one of 25 on a funky quilt I found In Hutchinson, Kansas. The baskets are set on a rough, faded background fabric. One side only is bordered in black. It’s an odd quilt and I love it.

Black-and-white cat on a black-and-white rug

A concerned follower has suggested I stray from my topic (Deb Rowden's Thrift Shop Quilts).
Au contraire! Besides quilts, some days we'll focus on thrift, and occasionally just something interesting to the first 2 words of the blog title.
Today, thrift. Namely, the toothbrush rug. I learned how to make these rugs from a friend in 1991 and haven't stopped making them since. I enjoy the color play and mindless fun.
My friend Georgann commissioned this black and white one for her bathroom. She supplied the fabrics, an attempt to lessen her fabric stash.
This is also a chance for you to see our handsome friend Oreo. He's the best.

Thrifty collaboration and more.....

One of the best things about editing quilt books is the people I get to work with.
I love working with Maggie Bonanomi. Her creativity is exciting. We met yesterday about her upcoming book and wow! does she have some inspiring projects under construction (nearly finished!).
Here is a little pillow she gave me during our last collaboration, on her cool first book With These Hands. Maggie is all about using found objects. I had a quilt that was old and rustic and a good fit with Maggie's colors. She made me this little pincushion from it. Best of all, when she opened the quilt up, she found vintage toile inside. It became the back. isn't it wonderful?
We talked about blogging and how we notice projects on blogs sometimes aren't credited (this is by Maggie, etc). Its good to keep that in mind: give credit where credit is due.