Spring Blooms Quilt Quilt Pattern

Spring is here and flowers are blooming. Let them bloom in your quilting as well! I designed this “Spring Blooms” quilt pattern that you can get by joining the Quilt Dash game and dash through online quilt shops now through April 30. Its now available through the WhimsyColor Shop.

Spring Blooms Free Dash Quilt Pattern Phyllis Dobbs

In addition, you will be entered into a drawing to win prizes from the shops that you visit.

This “Spring Blooms” quilt is pieced with 10″ blocks. The size of the quilt is 69 1/2 inches square but can easily be converted to a larger or smaller quilt or a rectangle shape. The quilt is great for an advanced beginner through experienced quilters.

I hope that you join the Dash and enjoy this pattern while enjoying your own spring blooms!

Phyllis

Houston Quilt Market, Part 2 – Spectacular Quilts Exhibited!

I promised to show some of the spectacular quilts on exhibit at the Houston International Quilt Market in the first part of my Houston Quilt Market blog post. These are just some of the amazing quilts exhibited. I’m always awed at the beauty of the quilts and the talent involved to create them.

Monarch Butterfly quilt Gloria Hansen

Monarch: About to Fly by Gloria Hansen of East Windsor, NJ. This quilt is a digital painting based on a photograph of a Monarch that she took before it flew away. The techniques are digital painting, machine piecing and quilting.

Bromeliads quilt at Houston Quilt Market by Deborah Beatty

Etherium Botanica Bromeliads – by Deborah Beatty of San Jose, CA. This quilt is based on her photography. The technique is digital painting, machine and hand piecing, machine quilting, and hand painting.

Desert Daze by Debra Crine quilt at Houston Quilt Market

Desert Daze – by Debra Crine of Marco Island, FL. This quilt was inspired by beautiful colors and landscapes of the southwest, with southwestern motifs added after the design was complete. The techniques used were paper piecing, fusible applique and machine quilting.

In my mind quilt at Houston Quilt Market

In My Mind – by Eun-Suk Lee, Cheong-Ju-Si, Chung-Buk, of the Republic of Korea. This quilt was created to show a red line of hope leading to the clarity that traditional Korean patterns have a place in modern quilting and to be a Korean artist in a Western art form.

Heidis Schlowers orchid quilt on display at Houston Quilt Market

Heidi’s Schlowers – by Andrea Brokenshire of Round Rock, TX. This quilt was inspired by the beautiful Cattleya Orchid and a child trip with her sister to Disneyland. The techniques were hand painted silk applique fused on a pieced batik confetti background, machine quilted and thread painted.

Apple Blossom Dance Quilt by Maggi Weiss at Houston Quilt Market

Apple Blossom Dance – by Maggie Weiss of Evanston, IL. Powdery spring blossoms inspired this quilt. The techniques were torn fabric, applique and machine quilting.

3D Sunflowers Quilt at Houston Quilt Market

3-D Sunflowers – by Martha DeLeonardis. Design source – a vintage sunflower block quilt. The techniques used were turned edge woven fabric, machine pieced, applique and quilted.

Tree of Life Quilt at Houston Quilt Market

Tree of Life – by Allison Lockwood of Shell Beach, CA. This quilt was inspired by the Tree of Life that is an important symbol in nearly every culture and a trip to Thailand. Techniques are hand appliqued, hand quilted, embellishments applied by hand.

Synergy Quilt at Houston Quilt Market

Synergy – by Nancy Sterett Martin and Karen Sistek of Owensboro, Ky. They were inspired by a photograph of a close-up of a poppy in creating this quilt. The techniques are hand painting on silk and machine quilting.

Tree Quilt at Houston Quilt Market

Tree – by Kathy York of Austin, TX. This quilt was inspired by the thought that if buildings could dance, they would upon the sight of such a lovely tree. The techniques were fusible applique, machine and hand quilting, and hand embroidery.

Prairie Grass Quilt

Prairie Grass – by Frieda Anderson of Elgin, IL. This triptych was inspired by the mid-west fields and prairies of Frieda’s hometown area and swaying in the wind on a spring day. The techniques used were fused collage and machine quilting.

Flowers for Me Diptych quilt

Flowers for Me Diptych – by Lynn H. Woll of Tacoma, WA. This quilt was inspired by a bouquet of flowers that Lynn bought for herself when she was feeling down. The techniques used were raw edge applique and embellishment.

Mae's Dance quilt by Carolyn Crump

Mae’s Dance – by Carolyn Crump of Houston TX.  Mae Jones, a quilter from Florida, passed away a year ago. Her family gave Carolyn Mae’s sewing machine, fabrics and quilting tools. Carolyn used the machine to make this quilt and named if for Mae. The dancers symbolized the power of needle and thread. The technique used was machine quilting.

As you can see, there were some spectacular quilts on exhibit. There were many more that I did not get pictures of due to time constraints. I hope you enjoyed seeing these few.

Phyllis

Pink Hydrangeas Add a Beautiful Burst of Color!

I love flowers and hydrangeas are one of my favorites. While I was walking in my driveway today, I was stopped by the large pink blooms on the hydrangea bushes and just have to share.

Pink hydrangea blooms

I bought the original plant many years ago. It had pink blooms, but after I planted it, it bloomed assorted colors ranging from blue, purple and pink, with some of the individual blooms multicolor due to the soil. It’s not as multicolored this year as in past years. The blooms have always attracted comments from neighbors. The past couple of summers, the hydrangeas did not bloom well due to the cold winters, but I think that the huge spectacular blooms made up for it this year.

I wish a bouquet for you!

Phyllis

Awesome Nature – and My Little Guest

I love finding surprises in nature.  A few days ago, I was in my yard and walked over  to see my Calla lily bloom (noun – I wasn’t actually going to watch it bloom out). I planted it several years ago, but this was the very first (and only) bloom. As I stepped in the flower bed to look at it, I saw something on one of the large leaves.  It was a tiny green frog, slightly over an inch long.

Green frog in flowers

Small green frog on leaf

I told a friend about it. She has been to Costa Rica and said that the green tree frogs there usually live their entire life on one leaf. I don’t know long this one will stay, but he is still here leaf perching. This morning, after several days on that leaf, he had moved to the next leaf.  I know these little frogs are pretty common, but all I have seen around here are the brown “hoppy” toads. So I hope that he does stay. I’ve always loved frogs and have included some in my art as well as quilt designs. Humm, maybe he will inspire me to create a new collection!

Put a little nature in your life today, ribbit!

Phyllis

Beautiful Blooms and Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving cactusI wish each of you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving and hope you are able to spend it with special people in your life.  I wish each of you safe travels and a holiday filled with love, laughter and reminiscences over fond memories!

I want to share my “Thanksgiving Cactus”.  Its in full bloom and measures 32″ across.  Never mind that I bought it during Christmas 4 years ago, thinking it was a “Christmas Cactus”.  But it blooms each year at Thanksgiving and a little research confirmed that it is a Thanksgiving Cactus.  I bought this as a small plant in a 4″ pot.  It amazes me that not only has it lived,  it has thrived and grown and grown each year. Although not a traditional color, there’s definitely nothing wrong with a little pink with our turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Phyllis

Lions, Giraffes & Snakes Oh MY – Lifesize knitted animals

These jungle animals are huge and colorful …. and knitted.  One of the most fun exhibits I’ve seen, this was the booth for Lion Brand Yarns at the winter Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show.  (I know, the show was in January, but I just found them in my camera).  What else can I say – the pictures tell the story.

Everything – flowers, blades of grass and the rugs were all made of yarn. The animals were all so cute! It was definitely an exhibit with the “awe” factor.

Have a “roaring” fun day.

Phyllis

Cooler Chicago for the (CHA) Craft & Hobby Show

I was in Chicago last week to attend the Craft and Hobby Show, the trade show for anything related to crafts (a consumer show followed the trade show). It was exciting to see the show floor filled with people who also seemed excited as well.

While there, my friend Brenda Pinnick and I took some time off to catch the El and go into Chicago to visit the museum at the Art Institute of Chicago. Its a fabulous museum and had expanded with a new modern wing that has been open a year.

The weather was fabulous, much cooler and less humid than here at home so Brenda and I spend some time walking through the city as well.  Chicago is so clean and beautiful and there were flowers everywhere along the streets. Large planters divided the street on Michigan Avenue as we walked toward the museum.  And there were plenty of sidewalk cafes with vibrant flowers.

Huge planters also lined the street.  I just happen to be in front of this one.

I am a huge fan of Art Nouveau and in Chicago, you don’t need to go to a museum to see a lot of this style as its prevalent throughout the City on buildings and other items of interest.

These 2 pictures shows some of the art nouveau designs on buildings.

And here is the famous Chicago Theater landmark on State Street, probably the most photographed  building in Chicago. 

One final shot – the Chicago River.  Didn’t I tell you Chicago was beautiful!

We enjoyed our day and it rejuvenating to have a break.  The next day, it was back to the CHA show  for meetings and to walk the show as well as visit with friends.

Here’s to a beautiful day for everyone!

Phyllis

Stop and enjoy the flowers around you.

I love being in my studio designing or painting because I love my “job”.  However an occasional glance out of the window at the greenery is not enough.  I have to go outside for just a few sec’s once or twice a day for a break and enjoy the flowers.  I love this Vintage Hibiscus which has spectacular 10″ blooms. They are simply amazing.

I have another Vintage Hibiscus that has wine colored flowers, same 10″ size blooms, but it hasn’t started blooming yet.

Unfortunately, like most hibiscus, the bloom only lasts a day.  But it is prolific and blooms every day, usually with 2 to 4 blooms.

Stop and take time to enjoy all the flowers around you.

Phyllis


Roses are blooming – A Studio Bouquet!

I love spring and all the flowers that bloom.  As I was rushing out to the mailbox this morning to mail out my latest design projects  (sewing designs for a magazine), I “stopped to smell the roses” literally! My Knock Out roses are really starting to bloom.  I couldn’t resist – I picked a bouquet for my studio so that I could enjoy them while I worked.  Since these roses bloom profusely until almost Thanksgiving (at least here in the deep south!), I will be able to pick bouquets for the next 5 or 6 months. 

I wish for each of you a bouquet of roses!

Phyllis

Macro photo shown Wordless Wednesday – see below for the full photo.

Cock\'s comb flower closeup

One person guessed that the macro photo that I posted yesterday for Wordless Wednesday could be a flower.  Most of the guesses were for various textiles.

As you can see, it was a flower, a Cock’s Comb.  The full bloom is over 3 times the size of my hand.  The plant is next to my front steps and draws comments from everyone who visits.  The blooms continue growing until the weather gets cold so they are really enormous by then.  There are hundreds of seeds on the throat of each bloom and they look like poppy seeds.  I scrap some off each fall and scatter them for the next spring’ plants as well as giving them to friends.

cock\'s comb plant filled with blooms