Quilts are Blooming

April showers bring May flowers . . . or so they say. It's May 21st and I woke up to snow this morning so anything goes here in Colorado. Snow aside, I have been spending a lot of time in 2019 working with my older floral stash. My April creating brought several blooming quilts to completion in May.

These three were recently finished and gifted to my wonderful sisters-in-law while on a recent road trip to the Midwest. I don't have siblings but consider myself extra blessed that I gained 3 sisters when I married my husband. I love them all and it gave me such pleasure to make personalized quilts for each of them that reflected their individual style.

First up was this simple Irish chain for Jan. She lives in Kansas also known as the sunflower state so my collection of sunflower prints fit perfectly. She loves sunflowers and all things Kansas.

Next up was this half square triangle quilt in lovely lavenders and purples for Nancy in Kansas City. She's going through some tough times right now with her health so I hope these flowers will remind her of better times spent in her garden and of her Mom who often wore lavender and light blue.

Last was this multi-colored Irish chain for Candy. She loves hostas and the colors purple and magenta so the hosta print and the peonies and other purple flowers were a great fit. I even put in a couple of sunflowers as a nod to years spent living in Kansas before their move to Iowa.

It was so much fun to gift each of these wonderful women in my life with a quilt. I hope they will be loved and used and brighten their days with positive energy and warmth. It feels nice knowing that some of my pretty fabrics have been put to good use.

I accumulated more than my fair share of traditional floral fabrics years ago when I did a lot of impressionist style quilts. Below is one of the early impressionist quilts I made for friends. On our trip we got to visit with them in their Iowa home and I took this photo. Not great lighting but I'm happy to know they still enjoy the quilt many years later as a reminder of their time spent living in Colorado.

So far I've completed 4 lap quilts and have fabric cut for 2 more and yet I've barely made a dent in my floral stash. There's even more than what this photo shows . . . Yikes!  I'll be following up with another post soon about the backing and quilting details for these three quilts so stay tuned.

Generally speaking these types of fabrics aren't my style anymore and yet on our recent trip I found myself buying these pretty green florals. I'm not a big fan of butterflies but the ferns and white flowers spoke to me.

I guess there'll be at least one more floral quilt to make. I'm thinking another Irish Chain as I love the simplicity of the design while still allowing room for a mix of prints. I have some fern and ivy prints I may mix in with these new fabrics.

Perhaps there will be more floral quilts in my future but after this one I think I'll be ready to move on. I have plenty of bright Kaffe florals waiting in the wings begging to be used, plus some new modern ideas brewing. Keep an eye on my Instagram account to see what I'm up to @springleafstudios.

I also have a new IG account specifically about color if you're interested. Right now I'm doing the 100 day challenge posting on the color green. It will evolve into other colors as I go along. @springleafcolor

Linking up with Kelly and this week's NTT party.
Also linking up with Cheryl's Favorite Finish Monthly.
Hope you're creating something beautiful in your world.

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