Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Ode to Flowering Dogwood

I decided to name my quilt just to give it parameters, so that is what I've done, not sure if I'll keep that name, or maybe change the "ode" to "tribute" hmmm.

I'm LOVING it!  And I want to make another already, in pinks and greens!  Oooh, and maybe run them ALL together, rather than colour-specific rows.

Here are my green piles:


I put them on top of the purple piles just to get a feel for how they go together, and I think pretty fantastic, n'est-ce pas?

Before I show you my design wall, however, I just have to add this little kiss from Serendipity (again!)  It never ceases to amaze me how things, people, places, events, so frequently line up from The Universe.

Now that I have finally had success in adding the blogs I follow to my sidebar, you will notice that I follow Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.  Hers was one of the first blogs I started following when I discovered the world of blogs about a year ago.  I first bought her book 3 years ago and love it.  Anyhow, on the day after I wrote my Colour! post, I received this quote from her (I've included just part of it, and the italics and underline are mine)":

Desire and curiosity are the two eyes through which he sees the world in the most enchanted colours…and the man may squander his estate and come to beggary, but if he keeps these two amulets he is still rich in the possibilities of pleasure." --Robert Louis Stevenson

I thought that was just SO à propos in view of the wonder I felt viewing those spectacular pink and white flowering dogwoods.  Thank you Barbara for telling me what they are!

So back to this quilt!  And yeah, here I go again, off on another tangent, instead of working on my Self Round Robin, or starting to quilt one of the tops I made in Florida, but I DO have a plan, I do!  I'm going to quilt this one probably before my Summer Daze quilt, as I will do a simple all-over meander on both of these quilts to get back in the rhythm of my Avanté.

Here is the design started last night after I got home from my Ashtanga yoga class in Windsor (sniff! I do so miss Liana's pure Ashtanga classes at Rosemary Court).  However, I do so love the atmosphere and teachers in Downtown Yoga in Windsor.  I just so wish they'd do the Primary Series and not go off on tangents.  I might in a little while, ask if they'd consider adding a Mysore class.


A couple of tips for testing the overall look of a quilt that is based so strongly on colour:

1. I simply take off my glasses, since I'm near-sighted, and view the quilt through fuzzy eyes.  If you have 20-20 vision, then squinting might produce the same effect.  Or drink a few glasses of wine, lol.  If there are any huge distractions, I notice it right away.

2.  I step wa-a-a-y back, and take a look, or look at the thumbnail picture view in iPhoto, which is tiny, and gives you that same opportunity to see annoying pops.

3.  View it in dim lighting too, just doing that value check, for annoying or distracting blobs.

However, I DO want some pops; I DO want the eye to jump around, maybe zoom around is a better word, enjoying the pull here or pull over there as it notices differences.

Here it is from first thing this morning when I finished up all 9 rows.

I did the rows really fast, trying not to over think it, with very little tweaking.  I haven't done any final tweaking yet, so it might change a little.  There's a bit of a blob of dark in the top row, that's bugging me, as well as a bigger blob of dark in the bottom row on the right side.  For the sashing, I think I'm going to use a pale grey floral I have, though I am leaning to the pale grey to symbolize the Interstate.  We'll see what it looks like once I get the rows done.

My blocks worked out nicely at 5" height with varying widths from 3 to 4.5".

Spring is finally arriving here in Kingsville, albeit later than usual.  Here is a gorgeous bush I snapped yesterday, whose flowers remind of the lily pad flowers in Florida.  Again, I don't know what it is, maybe a small magnolia??  I did see a huge tree magnolia starting to erupt in frothy flowers this morning on my way back from my mammogram.  Sorry I just had my iPhone for this pic.


And, Happy St. George's Day!  He's the patron saint of England.  Hope you are all wearing red in his honour.  Oops, I'm not; I wore pink and white in homage to the breast, since I was getting a mammogram!  And, because of my English teacher roots, Happy Shakespeare's birthday today, too!  Yay for the written word, be it sonnets, plays, short stories, or novels, etc.!

I've also decided to link up this scrap quilt post with Lee at Freshly Pieced for her WIP Wednesday!

7 comments:

  1. It is looking great Sandra. And coming together so quickly! I think the gray fabric would look great with those juicy colors. Love it!

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  2. Those are some gorgeous colors! I like Cynthia's idea of gray fabric with them. Visiting from freshly Pieced.
    xo jan@ Sew and Sow Farm
    And I used your new bloglovin button to sign up to follow :)

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  3. Loving the colours in your strips - and I agree that the grey would be perfect for sashing!

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  4. I keep looking for that ode to flowering dogwood, glad you like our trees. They grow every where down here, wild

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  5. Next time you go to Fla wave when you go through n. Ga

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    1. I sure will! Wow, this week, I've made two new friends who both live in North Georgia! Talk about a small world. Jan, of Sew and Sow Farm, also lives in the mountains of N. Georgia. Cool!

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  6. This quilt will be absolutely beautiful, as all of yours always are! <3

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