Benartex Project #2- Peacock Petals

 We round up the first quarter of the year

with my second Benartex project....

Peacock Petals using fabrics

from the Peacock Symphony

line by David Galchutt.

It hit store shelves in January so

keep an eye out for it.

Deep rich colors and 

a spring vibe kept niggling at 

the back of my mind.

I thought about 2 particular 

design workshops that I

adore teaching, Scrapplique'

and Fabric Collaborations.

Both concepts along with these

two fabrics inspired

my work for this challenge.

Thankfully the style of the fabric

goes beautifully with my own 

aesthetic of swirls and dots!

Admittedly, I got a bit carried away

with my design work.

It was only supposed to be

one small wall hanging.

THEN, I got excited about working

in lights vs. darks and so only

one of four blocks is done...

Now you will be intrigued enough to 

come back and see how it goes:)

HOW CUTE IS THIS?!!!?

I cannot wait to finish the 

whole quilt now!

My ambition thought I would

do it all by hand-LOLOLOL!!

SO many little circles.

Then I saw the work of 

Kyra Reps at Daytona...WOW!

So, I tried the prepared edge

applique' method using apliquick

bars that my friend,

Susan Marth, has been prodding 

me to try for years.

I am so resistant to change!

It did make my circles a bit

better but I really do loathe 

all that prep work.

So far this piece has 3 applique' 

methods on it:

Needle turn hand applique'

Prepared edge applique'

and fusible raw edge applique'.

Whatever gets it done right?

So, keep stitching in whatever

way makes your heart happy:)

Graduations; What do they mean?

 Welcome to Graduation season!

As our future steps out of the 

shadow of their parents and wanders

into their own way of doing things, 

I thought it might be fun to 

remember some of our own

graduated ideas.

Who remembers the first time

we realized that we didn't HAVE TO  

do everything we were taught?

Who remembers that amazing 

feeling of paying your own way

for the first time and then paying 

for someone else too?

These seem like simple ideas but 

they are the small ways that we 

graduate from child thinking to

becoming adults.

When I designed, "Graduation",

the idea was that gradual learning

from simple to complex that we all

go through whether it is leaving home

or learning a new skill.

So, some of the blocks are easy and some

are a bit more challenging...

just like life.

It is now available in 

my Etsy shop.

You can also read more

about the origin of it

from this blog post:

Nestlings By Robin Blog: Graduation and Elementals