This photo makes me happy!
I fell in love with Bluebonnets when we moved to Sulphur Springs, Texas in 1999. It was a season of so many things New To Me as one century was poised and ready to turn the page into the next.
I’m still smiling every time I think of these Bluebonnets!
Warm sunshine.
Soft breezes -
And loads of traffic noise from the interstate! LOL!
Isn’t it great what you can do with photography?
We were actually just off the frontage road on a patch next to the parking lot of a restaurant we had met at for lunch on our way to Mineola – more than a week ago now.
But by this photo alone not knowing – you would guess that we were way out in the Texas hill country – not sitting mere feet from the off ramp of a major toll road.
Along with the bluebonnets there were morning glories.
Or something fairly similar and barely pink.
Weeds are just wildflowers – misunderstood!
Vibrant roses from the parking lot as well. Ahhhhh! Spring!
As we moved in to the Show & Share segment after our lunch was nearly over each day, I sensed a theme emerging. STRING QUILTS A-PLENTY! Oh, so many -
And check out the color placement that brings those circles even more forward!
This is posting as I head off to Michigan to teach Straits of Mackinac at the Grand Hotel Needle Arts Seminar on Mackinac Island. How fitting is that? It was inspired by the colors of the water the last time I taught on the island, and already – folks are completing their own versions. This just makes me SO happy! Well done!
Close Up. With all of those beautiful blues of the Texas Bluebonnets!
It is now quilted and bound. Way to go, Glenda!
I am also teaching this at the Grand Hotel this coming week.
I LOVE her border fabric!
And Good Fortune with a slight color shade shift toward pastel – Ooooh wow!
How about we switch that to a black background?
We are ALL in love with string piecing!
Some string piecing even ran over into an additional border!
And started one in blue & yellow in class!
And another, in red, white & blue!
I am giggling to myself over Val’s brain warp when it came to pronouncing and remembering the name of this quilt – and the fact that she started calling it “Puffer Fish" out of desperation. LOL! From now on it wall always be recognized by that name as well!
An unexpected Leader & Ender finish that “Went to the Strings!”
Take a good look at the star block!
And those neutral strings as setting triangles? PERFECTION!
Once you start string piecing there's no turning back.
It was a week of string quilt upon string quilt and they just made my heart sing, each and every one!
And that wasn’t all –over the 4 days of workshops hosted by Stitchin' Heaven – the Show & Share got better and better every day.
So pour yourself a cup of your favorite. Maybe bring over a snack and settle in for nearly 5 minutes of quilty fun. Things are about to get very scrappy over here!
Click to Play:
I hope you feel so inspired you run right to your scraps and start stitching up a storm!
I am hitting send on this post as I head off for Michigan – we’ll catch you from the Straits of Mackinac!
Quiltville Quote of the Day
I love this quote! There is one more line that goes "You are a swirling vortex of limitless potential!" I felt like it fit this quilt photo perfectly.
I was walking through an antique mall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota a mere 3 years ago on the way to the airport and I found this beautiful well worn 1990s Mariner's Compass design by Judy Mathieson underneath the stack of other linens in a basket. Somebody expertly pieced this! The stitching was incredible.
It probably spent many years as a bed quilt, fabrics now fading and a bit worn and has ended up in this antique mall for $90. I wished I could have taken it home with me, but I didn't have room. I hope someone snatched this up.
At some point all of the brand new sparkling quilts we are making today will become a bit outdated, perhaps well worn and fading, but they will tell the story of a quiltmaker's passion with fabric, needle and thread.
At that point, I hope people will look beyond the fabric and the styles and the name brands, and see our lives in our quilts.
Have a terrific Friday, everyone!
Bon voyage to The Mitten! Have fun on Mackinac!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad always said if you want to see the 7 wonders of the world you only had to travel around Michigan, have fun this weekend, stay warm ;) This was a wonder-full post today, thank you, Bonnie!
DeleteBonnie, the pale pink flowers are Prairie Primrose. One of my favorite spring flowers. Enjoy your time on the island! Some of my guild members will be there! So, a big hello from Oklahoma!!
ReplyDeleteLove those Primrose! Those mounds of pale pink petals with their yellow-gold centers are prolific here in N. Texas but those attention-grabbing Bluebonnets steal the show.
DeleteAnother name for them is buttercups. As a child (and sometimes even now), I pick one, ask someone to smell how wonderful they smell and then push it against their nose. It leaves a yellow butter-like powder wherever applied.
DeleteA million thanks for all the inspiration you gift!
ReplyDeleteI love all the quilts even / Puffin - Fish! It makes me excited to get another quilt going!
ReplyDeleteSo enjoy your posts. Have fun in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteLove when you post pictures and names of the beautiful quilts. Have fun in Michigan and stay warm!!
ReplyDeleteOh man! That Mariners compass quilt was the very first thing I ever made! It was a wall hanging. Good thing nobody told me I shoukdn't start with something like that. I may have let them limit what I was capable of doing! Have fun on the island!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers followed by stunning quilts, your blog is a joy as always.
ReplyDeleteThe mariners compas and quote are perfect, I’m actually making a mariners compass wall hanging for a friend and you’ve inspired me to keep going even though my pieces are very small
Love and quilty hugs
Anne xxx
We were in bluebonnet country 2 weeks ago as part of a college reunion for my husband, and the wildflowers were magnificent! The pink flowers in your photo are a kind of evening primrose, I think, rather than a morning glory--stunning, no matter you call them.
ReplyDeleteYou deserve to be proud as punch about how many beautiful quilts you are inspiring us to make. And how much beauty you remind us to stop and 'see'.
ReplyDelete