Flowers and Hoochy Bug Swap

Spring has definitely arrived on the west coast.  It has been wet wild and windy here and the bulbs are coming out in full force to show their finery.

 I don't know the name of these lovely little blue flowers in Rita's garden.

 This hellebore looks like layers of a lady's petticoat.

 Crocuses in the dappled sunshine.

 I like these purple and white striped ones with the bright orange stamens.

 All purple, a bit wind blown.

 Another delicate mauve/white star bulb.

 These crocuses almost look translucent and made of chiffon.

 How did they find their way under the rhododendrons?

 Bright orange bells on these daffodils.

 The first tulip in full bloom.

 Lion daffodils.

 Pink flowering winter forsythia in full bloom, love the blue sky behind.

 Hoochy mama dragonflies for my Mary Lou Weidman Bug Swap.

What a lovely time of the year.

First Day of Spring or Autumn!

Happy First Day of Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, to our friends down under; Happy First Day of Autumn!

 We had a lovely sunny day here on the West coast hope you enjoyed your day.

This is also the anniversary of the birth of my father, Happy Birthday Dad!

National Quilting Day-Bird Brain!

I belong to the Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild and we are quite a prolific group.  One of our members Dougal Walker created this delightful quilt called Bird Brain for one of our past show challenges.

 The indigo blue fabric on the feet was brought over from Hungary and was the fabric that had to be included in the original design.  Dougal used needle turned applique, fused applique, double sided rolled feathers, embellished with beads, yarns for this design.

 Here is another variation for the piece in a different colourway.  Notice the nesting fibres in the bird's mouth and the curled tail feathers that are double sided.

 Another one by Dougal.

 One final work under progress, this one is mainly done with fusible rather than needle turned or machine applique.

 This is only part of the group, we were about 24 in total.

 Wilma did a lot of prep work before coming to the class.

 Rita was interviewing different fabrics and deciding to do strips rather than square or rectangle watercolour technique.

 Another example of the watercolour starting with the grass at the bottom.

 Cathy was given this green fabric by another Sandi and is interviewing fabrics for her bird.

 More grass watercolour squares.

 Yet another watercolour started.

 Yes, yet more.

 Another with mainly squares, check out the pink and blue flowers for a punch of colour

 Trying to decide if she wants to do stripes of colour or cut them into squares.

 This yellow guy is mine, I'm not sure which greens I'm going to use and decided to work on my bird.

 Progress with squares.

Wilma's background is almost to her desired effect, love the aquas peeking into the sky.

 Cathy's bird is starting to take shape.

 More progress on the watercolour squares.

 Hard at work and not aware of the camera.

 Rita decided to flash a smile as she picked wool to work with.

 Dougal explaining to Janna one of her many techniques.

 My yellow bird starting to look more like a Bird Brain than a Yellow Duckling.  The freezer paper patterns are on the back and this will eventually face to the left and be needle turned applique.

 Even more feathers with a couple of changes in colours.

 Rita's wool Bird Brain is looking great, love the background.

 Cathy decided to fussy cut a sunflower to accent the eye of her bird.

 Background strips all ready to be sewn together.

My Bird Brain has a crown,now to make the tail feathers and get down to some serious sewing, I'm so glad I brought my sewing machine along.  I didn't get it out at all!  Now to get some bugs made for a swap that I'm late for!

Happy National Quilting Day everyone.

Rita's Garden

These miniature irises are growing in my friend Rita's garden.  Their colour is just so rich.

 Rita has a lovely collection of Hellebore plants.

 Some have very delicate leaves and colours.

 Others are darker and richer coloured.

 The contrast against the green leaves is lovely.

 Here tree peony is putting forth new growth.

 If you look closely you can see the first robin of Spring flying away, it didn't want it's picture taken.

 The witch hazel is showing signs of Spring growth.

 These almost look waxy in their appearance.

  A crocus blown over by the wind off the Fraser River.

 Pink and purple with a dash of green, traditional Spring colours coming out to visit.

Spring forward tonight with the time change!