Sonoran Desert quilt

I returned over the last few days to my Sonoran Desert quilt, which I haven't touched in weeks, and laid out the blocks on a piece of batting. The five-inch squares are layered with torn raw-edge pieces of fabric and slow stitched with perle cotton. I loved doing the stitching and ended up making 24 blocks based on the colors of Tucson's Sonoran Desert: blue for the sky, tan for the sand, and green for the cacti. 

First I arranged them touching (above), then I tried giving them some breathing space (below). I like the second arrangement better.

Then I played around with borders and also considered just leaving the exposed batting as a border. I still haven't decided on this step. I think a colored border takes away from the center, but I'll ponder it for a few days or weeks. The white border lets the eye really focus on the squares. Opinions?

My work table is covered with fabric that I pulled for different borders.

Next I had to decide how to attach the squares to the quilt sandwich. I was afraid that machine stitching would be too jarring next to the hand stitching and my poor arthritic hand couldn't take sewing them all down by hand. I ended up going back to my signature step of the past 20 years of tacking the pieces down with a tiny zigzag with gold thread and leaving the thread tails hanging to reflect light and add movement.

The raggedy threads and uneven stitching suit a quilt about the wild, tough desert.

To see what other quilt artists have been up to this week, click here:  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Have a colorful day

Big news in my yard!

 

I thought I'd update you on my soap tree yucca (above) and giant agave that started sending up stalks this spring. It appears they've reached their lofty peaks and are now blooming. The three yucca stalks on the soap tree are loaded with creamy white flowers that the birds and bees love. You can see the skeleton of last year's stalk to the right. It's probably three or four feet long!

Now the flowers are dropping and creating a white carpet below.

Meanwhile, in the front yard the agave stalk that looks like a giant asparagus spear has disappeared into the neighboring tree top. It must be at least 15 feet high!

It started sending out side branches that are now covered with buds. I'm not sure if they'll open into flowers or if this is it.

What I do know is that this is the beginning of the end for this agave. They only bloom once in their life, then they die. But first they drop seeds around themselves so that baby agaves will replace them.

Here's my iced tea stalk! I bought a pack of silicone reusable straws in bright colors and this green is my go-to one because it's my favorite color. I also wanted to show you my new handblown Mexican glass. I've been looking for affordable ones since I moved here and I finally found some at Home Goods of all places. I drink iced tea all day and recently started tucking in mint sprigs that make it so much tastier and more colorful.

Finally, my friend Beth sent this out last week. 

I love my octopus friends!

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My quilts are for sale on Etsy

I decided to reactivate my Etsy account and start posting my art quilts for sale because I have way too many. And I need the income to support my habit if I want to make more. 

Here are just a few. For details and prices, hop over to my shop at: www.sherrielovescolor.etsy.com

This little tumbling block quilt is actually woven. I made it in a guild class ages ago when I lived in El Paso.

"Spider Woman Stitched Together Earth and Sky" was inspired by a book I read to my children when they were young. (Update: Thanks, Dru, for purchasing this one! I'm glad it will be going to a good home.)

"Sedona Spring" was inspired by the joyful, bright colors of spring in Sedona's red rock country, where I used to hike every year for the entire month of March.

"Sea Glass and Fog" is from my 12 years in the Pacific Northwest, with its subdued greens, blues and grays.

"Organza Four Patches" is a contemporary takeoff on the traditional four-patch block. I painted sheer silk organza and layered it to get the rich colors.

"Joy" is so named because it was simply a joy to make -- rich colors and easy construction.

"Houses" is a happy little quilt in all summery flowers and blue skies.

I made "Color Blocks" to go over my fireplace when I lived in Illinois. But that was four houses ago! It's made with hand-dyed cottons that I bought at the International Quilt Festival ages ago.

"Mandala" is heavily hand stitched and beaded and served as a meditation during the stitching. I made three mandalas, so it's time to find new homes for one or two.

"Waiting for Spring" was inspired by the view of snowy winter woods from my house in Illinois. I used torn masking tape as a resist when painting the black fabric with metallic gold, bronze, copper and silver.

I made "To Weave or Not to Weave" for a challenge issued by the Professional Art Quilt Alliance, which I was a member of when I lived in Illinois. The challenge was to create a piece based on the word "to" or "too" or "two." Mine uses two colors -- green and pink, going in two directions, as well as two "to's" in the title.

If you want to see what other quilt artists have been up to this week, hop over here: a-sew-sew-day-on-off-wall-friday.html

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Flowers and a house quilt

This week I made a mini version of the house quilt that's hanging in my dining room, which has 49 blocks. I had the urge to work with flowery fabrics, so I decided to make a small house quilt to sell in my Etsy shop, which I just reopened at www.sherrielovescolor.etsy.com  In the next few weeks I'll be going through smaller quilts in storage to list in the shop.

 

Here's the pattern. I've made three large versions and now the smaller one.

Each block has a different happy flowery print set against a blue sky. It went together quickly, so now I need another project!

Speaking of pretty flowers, my son and his wife sent this beautiful bouquet for Mother's Day (shown with chocolates from my daughter). The quilt in the background is, appropriately, titled "Garden Gone Wild."

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Human and plant moms

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!!!

This is my beautiful mother. The top photo is when she visited me in St. Louis to meet her new granddaughter, Julia. That's my son, Keith, with me. It's 1988.

In the photo below she's with my two younger sisters in our backyard in South Park Township, outside of Pittsburgh, probably in the early 1960s.

And here she is last Christmas just a few days shy of turning 90!

I also have some plant mothers in my yard that are sending up seed stalks like crazy!

This huge agave in my front yard sent up a stalk that looks like a giant asparagus almost overnight. It's at least eight feet. 

Now it's growing horizontal branches toward the top that support seed pods and flowers that the birds love. You can see these branches in this photo:

This is what it looked like when the stalk first started growing. Unfortunately, when an agave blooms it means it will die soon. The seeds will fall on the ground around it and produce clones, though, so all will not be lost.

Meanwhile in the back yard, my soap tree yucca sent up three blooms this year! The skeleton-like stalk on the far right is from last year's bloom. Luckily the yuccas don't die after they flower.

The next few photos show the progression of blooms:

These last two show how full last year's stalk got with big creamy white flowers.

It was REALLY big!

I also have smaller yuccas throughout the yard sending up tall slender stalks with seed pods that the birds and bees love. Here are two little birds sitting on one of the branches.

The entire neighborhood is filled with mother plants reproducing. These gorgeous yellow flowers are on a neighbor's prickly pear cactus.

The barrel cactus, below, produces fruit that looks like little pineapples.

And the majestic ocotillo gets red flowers on the tips of its tall branches in the spring.

And finally, my next-door neighbor has an absolutely stunning palo verde tree full of golden blooms! Here's to reproduction and mothering in all of its forms!

Have a colorful day