Floral Passion

Okay, my muse went just a little too far this time. I spent two hours last night taping this together. The design is about 45 inches across and 55 inches tall. Too large to deal with all the printing issues...but, wouldn't this be a wonderful quilt! I might just try to attempt it in this size anyway. But, for marketability...I'll have to get it on fewer sheets. The largest I can get printed sheets for is 17 x 22 easily (and cheaply). That size is a good wall hanging or medallion for a lap quilt. If I print in across four pages, it would be large enough for a bed size medallion...right? Think I'll have to try printing out a smaller size (more taping pages together) and see if that would be a scale that I like enough to proceed. Here is the design in color markup...isn't it pretty? Can you imagine how that would be in applique...perhaps with some hand embroidery to accent...and some additional bits of lace butterflies, dragonflies, or embroidery fairies?  

This is a long-term project...and has to go to a back burner because I have to get back to my CQ Round Robin block and my upcoming CQ Class and my Merry Merry Snowman Quilt top and...the list goes on! I need a keeper...and a helper too!  

Do You Smell Smoke?

Because I'm pretty sure that I'm burning some brain cells! I'm still working on designs, and have so many ideas that I can't even get them down fast enough. I'm going to have to just stop and rest my eyes from this laptop...pick up my trusty little journal...and write down some thoughts before they flee my head! Seriously, do you smell smoke? Last night, I started working on an applique design. I have always wanted to do an applique medallion quilt and design my own flowers. So, yesterday I spend hours creating roses, irises, daisies, tulips, ...well you get the idea...and today I started playing around with layouts. The top photo is of my first sketch with just roses. It's okay...but could be better.   

This second photo is my next attempt. The background oval is now a circle...which fits the design much better I think because I had the paper size set to 32 x 32 (duh, a SQUARE). I also like the addition of more leaves and rosebuds. The four quadrants are the same...just flipped and rotated differently than the first photo. Can you see the difference? These will take a few more days to "perfect". Then the hard work of actually creating independent little patterns for each separate piece of applique. THEN, creating an actual pattern than can be loaded as a complete pdf file to PatternSpot. Sharing is sometimes hard work..but, it is also a great reward! I just wish I was faster so that I could get more done! Okay, I'm off to go find the fire extinguisher...cause I am definitely on fire here! My muse is working overtime...and I love it. When I crash, I'll have to sleep for a week! (No, I'm not on any meds...and no, I have not been drinking or anything! But, I'd consider it if it kept my brain working this good and gave me energy! Okay, just kidding again...geez, you can take a joke...right?)