Sunflower Fields

Sunflower Fields

When I was a kid, every summer was spent at my Grandma and Grandpa's farm in North Dakota. Back in  70's I remember fields of sunflowers and wheat. It is burned into my memory how golden it was. It was a golden time in my childhood.... lazy mornings waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs, homemade sweet rolls,  4th of July fireworks, family barbecues, kittens, homemade cookies and grandma's apples and banana salad. I can always count on inspiration from my childhood and memories, so I have yet a new pattern, capturing the golden fields of sunflowers and the waves of golden wheat fields. This pattern has been a long time coming. Somehow I stalled out at the editing phase and this project has been in the works for a couple of years. So over the last couple of days, I finished it, sewing on bee wings and doing the final edit on the pattern. I also need to thank my testers! You guys rock and I'm so sorry it took me so long to finish this project.

What I love about this quilt is that you can have fun and make it scrappy. You can work out of your fabric stash or go run to the quilt shop and buy a bunch of fat quarters in both light and dark fabrics. (Light-cream for the background, Dark- the chevron stripes and sunflowers) I made mine using all yellow and gold fabrics, and then a bunch of cream fabrics. This quilt is done in all pinks, or blues or whatever  your favorite color is. Sunflower Fields would also be adorable made scrappy with all sorts of colors. To give it a retro feel, 1930"s fabrics would be fun to work with.

I love embellishing my quilt with these sweet little bumblebees.

The wings are 3D... I love the added touch!

I didn't want to wings to be 'flapping' so I stitched them down using a blind stitch.

I also had fun doing a running stitch using #12 pearl cotton to make the 'flight'

of the bumblebee. I also embroidered the bee antennae using the pearl cotton.

My new design seems to also be Maddie approved.

Yes, silly girl, you look adorable sitting on the quilt...

No, it's not for you.

I wrote this pattern in three sizes... Pattern includes directions to make a

lap (50" x 65"), twin (65" x 75") or double (80" x85") sized quilt.
I hope that you enjoyed my little blog posting today. Give my Sunflower Fields quilt a try. It does go together pretty quickly and would be a great retreat project. I just love making quilts that have that scrappy feel. I also use flannel for the backing to make it extra snuggly.

I'm off to organize my office and studio, it looks like a bomb went off in there since I've gotten back from quilt market. It's so much more fun to make a mess....

Happy quilting,

Cindy

Sunflowers Fields

Sunflower Fields

When I was a kid, every summer was spent at my Grandma and Grandpa's farm in North Dakota. Back in  70's I remember fields of sunflowers and wheat. It is burned into my memory how golden it was. It was a golden time in my childhood.... lazy mornings waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs, homemade sweet rolls,  4th of July fireworks, family barbecues, kittens, homemade cookies and grandma's apples and banana salad. I can always count on inspiration from my childhood and memories, so I have yet a new pattern, capturing the golden fields of sunflowers and the waves of golden wheat fields.

I am in need of a few testers... because...

I've been staring at this the last 8 hours....

and since I was staring at a computer screen the last 8 hours...
I had a couple of these.... 

So who knows what grammer errors and mistakes I'm missing as I proof read.... I need help. So if you are interested in testing my new pattern. Email me, I would love to hear from you. Before you join in the fun, let me tell you a little about this pattern...... it is written for three sizes, lap, double and king....(king sized is pictured) no you don't need to make all three... just one.  It's meant to be a scrappy quilt, so using your fabric stash is permitted, (you don't have to go out and buy fabric if you don't want to.) Just make sure the fabric you pull from your collection matches the amounts that I specify. There's a bit of applique in this quilt.... not only the leaves and stems but there are little bumble bees too... my little signature bee that has shown up on a project or two in the past. Can't have flowers without the bumble bees.... love them. Also.... You need to commit to have the quilt top done within a couple of weeks. It doesn't have to be quilted, just the top pieced and appliqued. If you don't have time to sew, I could use a proof-reader. 

So while you are testing, I will be busy quilting this beauty... 

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Happy Quilting,