New Project: "Rainy Spring"

Really, what else could I be stitching about right now?

All is quite green and the intrepid flowers are trying to grow, but we have had precious little sun in April or May, and it has been quite cold.
A nice day, a really good day, looks like this:

At least there is some blue in that sky!

It seems like most years I make a spring quilt; this year's will be informed by the weather, and the mixed blessing of luscious greens and too-cool days we are having here in the Northwest.

I started out with my trusty AccuQuilt to cut out my foundation blocks.

These are 6 1/2" square, made out of some old white curtains!
I also needed some fan shapes, and the Drunkard's Path die is perfect for them.

Truly, this machine saves me so much grief. Not to mention time.

First I pieced my windy cloudy sky. For those of you who know my book, I used the Curved Edge Foundation Piecing method on page 30.

These pieces are all pretty tiny. This center section will measure 18" X 18".
Those curved white shapes represent the clouds. What a great time to use my lace stash!

This is but a tiny corner of it... ;-)
I've started with the four corners.

Of course some of M & S Schmalberg's flowers found their way there. Did you know you can order the petal componets from them now? Look here.

These lace collages were very fun to make.

I used a fine white thread in the bobbin and clear monofilament thread in the top.

The sewing was very easy. Appliqueing these shapes onto the blue pieced blocks should be fairly simple too. Then I can add some white embroidery to them.

So far, the whole thing pinned up on the design wall looks like this:

Those smaller white shapes will have lace collages on them as well.
Then I have a very large pile of brilliant green fabrics to piece...

I can't tell you how good it feels to be diving into a new, longer-term project!