Pass It On

What perks me up, and really makes me take notice?  Tell me you want to learn to do hand appliqué, and I’m on it!  Heather expressed an interest in learning to do hand appliqué,  so this week we got together one evening for some lessons in basic hand appliqué techniques.  I love to teach traditional hand techniques.  I think it’s important in our fast-paced world of today, that we slow down and pass on these traditional methods.  

Heather purchased the show pattern from Hershey called Purple Posies designed by Mimi Dietrich and Norma Campbell, thinking that would be a good project to start on.  She had a lot of fun at the show searching out fabrics for this project ~ she went with mostly hand dyes. 

So this week we are making leaves with the freezer paper on the back method.  Another week we’ll move on to a different technique to make the flowers, and flower centers. 

I’m making leaves along with Heather (because you can never have too many leaves ~ right?).  I’m playing with a block design of my own to use in my Baltimore Album quilt.  I’ll let you know how it works out. 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Birdhouse Whimsy

 

Hershey Gardens had a fantastic display of birdhouses.  I have a thing for birdhouses, they look so peaceful in the garden, and add just a touch of whimsy ~ so I took a bunch of birdhouse pictures. I won't bore you with them all, but here are a few of our favorites. 

  

Many of them had themes ~ how cute is this! It was Heather's favorite.

  

 I took this little caboose picture because I knew my hubby would like this one.

  

This was my favorite.  It reminds me of a birdhouse that a friend just gave me that's similar to our house.

  

This is mine.  My best friend gave it to us for our wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow!), and right now I have it sitting on our hearth :)

  

And just so you know that I am working on things, I finished my second pair of knitted socks!  With traveling, I've been doing mostly handwork.  I have some knitting going, and I've been busy preparing some more hand applique to carry along.  I'm getting ready to head out again on a trip to Lisa's house to be there for her, and watch Elsie while she and Cory go to the hospital and deliver Abby.  Cory is a Marine, and we feel so blessed to have him home and not deployed for the birth of this daughter! Busy, busy exciting times :)

  

PS ~ Don't forget to hop on over to the Project Quilting blog and vote for Elsie's Growth Chart.  Voting ends today, and if you leave a comment, you're in the drawing for a give away!

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

A Hershey Garden Reprieve

While we were in Hershey, we did something I'd never done before on any prior visits ~ we stopped by the Hershey Gardens.  This is definitely worth doing!  We hopped on the shuttle and went up after shopping at the show's Vendor Mall all afternoon.  There are acres of beautiful gardens to walk, including a child's garden and a butterfly house (the butterfly house closes at 5:00 by the way, so if you want to see butterflies go before 5:00 p.m.)

The view is really cool.  It's up on a hill overlooking Hershey Park. 

There were fountains, ponds, little waterfalls, and also shady areas ~ which was nice because when we went it was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but I guess because it was up on a hill, there was a nice breeze blowing.  In the children's garden, there were even Hershey Kisses that blew a mist of water in the air :)

And you've gotta love any garden that has Twizzlers that appear randomly throughout the garden beds...

...and there were even dancing pigs...and this was before the Chocolate Martini :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

More Sights and Textures from Quilt Odyssey

 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Quilt Odyssey

I had my camera, brought the laptop this time since I wasn't flying...but did I remember my camera cable to upload the pictures?  So I'm a little late, but here are some sights from Quilt Odyssey in Hershey.  Of course the winners were over the top awesome.  This first one is Marilyn Badger's Best of Show quilt.

I think the thing that struck me most this year was the quilting.  Both Hand and Machine, the quilting was amazing throughout the show.  This one, made by Janet Atkins won for Best Hand Quilting, but unfortunately my picture doesn't capture it.

Here is a shot of some of the quilting on another quilt.  Just beautiful!

There were Traditional Quilts too!  This one by Barbara Korengold won for Best Traditional.  It took my breath away.

I've been into scrappy style quilts lately, and this one caught my eye.  We took a picture of Heather's hand next to it, so you can see how small the pieces are, and this is a large bed sized quilt!

I was just blown away by this one. 

Then, right after entering the Vendor Mall, we rounded the corner and Heather spotted this ~ my Retro Clothespin Apron Pattern in a shop from Wappingers Falls New York called The Quilt Basket.  This is the first time I've ever seen one of my patterns in someone else's shop and we just had to take a picture  ~ yes, we were "those people"... just for a few minutes :)  Isn't it cute made up in the tomato fabric!

So now I'm back home, and back to work.  I prepared and took some hand work on the trip, so hopefully I'll have another Baltimore Album block to show you soon :)

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

Inspiration From Where?

For the Project Quilting Challenge this week, I worked with castles and good fairies :)  I had this fabric left over from a bunk bed tent that I just made for Elsie for her upcoming birthday (I'll have pictures of that in August when I deliver it to her and we try to hang it on the bed).  Our challenge for this week was to take a trip to the office supply store for inspiration.

This is the pile of loot that I started with - page protectors, photo protectors, key tags, funky paperclips, a dry erase/magnet board, composition notebook, colored pencils, & stickers.

I added a tape measure that I already had, sewing it accross the tape in increments, so to leave some areas loose.

I stitched a plastic photo protector to the outside of the pocket before adding the pocket to the quilt.

This shows one of the funky shaped paper clips sewn on (you'll see why in a moment).  And for some sparkly embellishments, I fused together some Angelina Fibers to make little sheets and cut them into hearts and stars using my Accuquilt Go.
 

I also sewed on some fabric flowers that I had on hand and added button centers for some other fun embellishments.

I added little elastic bands in the center that will hold on the removable dry erase/magnetic white board, and this is what I had.  (This is the quilt before I loaded it up.)  It measures 20" x 40".

The pocket holds the coloring supplies and stickers.  I added a picture of Elsie feeding the giraffe at the zoo since that is one of her favorite memories so far.

The funky clips that I sewed on the top are to hold a page protector with Elsie's artwork (which is much better than mine by the way).

Here is how I used the key tags.  They are markers that can be written on to mark the child's height at a certain age or date.  They just clip on, but can be sewn or stapled on to be permanently attached.

So here is the finished Growth Chart/Art Center all loaded up with goodies.  The pocket could also hold books (and the markers and dry erase board can be removed and only given out when Elsie is being supervised, since this will hang within her reach in her bedroom).  I started the tape measure at 24", and the quilt has 2" borders, so it will hang 22" up from the floor.  Just the right height for a child.  This will look nice hanging in Elsie's bedroom, coordinating with her bed tent and other Pink things (she's turning 3, and that's currently her very favorite color).

This was a neat challenge, and just goes to show that you can find quilty inspiration just about anywhere! I went ahead and entered my Project Quilting challenge project early because I'm heading off to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey PA, so I'm sure I'll get some wonderful inspiration there too...along with the chocolate :)

Enjoy the day!
Dawn

PS ~ Don't forget to visit our new website! http://springwaterdesigns.com

Spring Water Designs ~ The Website

It's ready!  The big unveiling, drum roll please...not really, it's actually pretty humble right now, but we're excited anyway!! :)

Springwaterdesigns.com

Click on over there and check out our new website!  Grand Opening Sale ~ Free shipping on all patterns! Subscribe to our newsletter, download a free pattern, visit the Gallery for a little inspiration, and enjoy!  

We'll be growing the store, so bookmark it and stop in often.  This blog will remain here, and you can access it from the website too!  We want your comments, and let us know what you'd like to see on the website!

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn