A Different Spin on Summer's Blush

Welcome to the New Year Everyone!

After spending four days with the six grandkids and grown kids at the cabin, it is time to take out my earplugs and get back to my quilting!  All quilting ceases when the little kids are around....Grammy is busy playing.  Now to another kind of play....quilting.  Remember, quilting should be relaxing and fun, not stressful.  If you find yourself getting stressed over a particular project, it is time to put it away and work on something that you enjoy.

I'm teaching Summer's Blush next month at the shop, so I thought I would make another sample in a different colorway.  So many quilters can't picture a quilt in fabric other than the picture on the pattern or the sample on display in the local quilt shop.  I like to make my store samples in different fabric.  Every quilt shop has it's own unique style.  One pattern may sell well in one shop but not in another one.....unless I've supplied a store sample that is completely different.

This version will be incorporating black and many primary colors from my stash.  There will be lots of Civil War fabric, plaids, checks and some brights.  I make sure that every petal is just right, with the design on the fabric centered on the hexagon paper.  The attention to detail will pay off in the long run and it doesn't require much more effort.  The whole process is FUN!  I whipstitch three flowers together, make some leaves with the starch method, then applique the little bouquet to a setting triangle,

I love making the hexagon flowers.  I don't have to think too hard.....maybe that's why I like making them.  They are portable and travel back and forth with me on our trips to the cabin.  These little flowers are just bursting with color on my cutting table.

Here is the original Summer's Blush in Fig Tree & Co. fabric.  The new Summer's Blush is going to be the exact same pattern with an entirely different look!  I can't wait to put some of my blocks together drawing from the colors that I've used in the flowers.  Making a quilt twice is also a good check and double check on my written directions.  Writing a quilt pattern isn't nearly as much fun as making the quilt!  (And it takes me longer to write the pattern than make the quilt!)

I don't have my border fabric yet.  I'll wait and see how the quilt top "talks" to me once I have the top together.  How about you?  Do you start with your border fabric first?  Or wait and know that you will find the perfect fabric eventually.  I'll know it when I see it.

Have some fun this week and pull out a UFO and start working on it.  Quilt a few minutes each day and you'll be amazed how much you'll have completed by the end of the week.

As always,

Lynn