Snowbirds

Joanna's family are translators with Wycliffe in the Solomon Islands,

and regularly travel between their two lives in the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres.

When I saw this quilt, Snowbirds,

on the Moda Bakeshop site,

I felt like it was designed with them in mind!

Half of the "birds" are going south west, and half are going north east.

Using my favorite batiks seemed like the right thing to do,

given their tropical home in the SI :D

After completing Ann's quilt, I was a bit pushed for time to get this one done,

and this one finished a bit bigger, at 72"x64" (hard to feed through my machine),

both good reasons to hire a professional quilter to save my bacon!

Tracey Fisher did an amazing job,

squeezing this "little" quilt in between bigger projects.

As with Ann's, I was determined to use what I had,

and I love how this back came together.

I look at it and see the tropical ocean, the clear blue sky, and bright sunshine :D

It looked awfully at home there, on my couch!

But it made it into my suitcase, into Joanna's arms,

and right out onto her front porch,

where I had imagined it!

Autumn at the Pond

Better late than never???

Something about the cooler weather of fall puts me in the mood to sew!

And I had the perfect justification (as if I needed one), with my upcoming trip to Arkansas on the calendar.

Two gracious and lovely ladies were waiting to host me,

and I wanted to return thanks with a little gift for each of them.

My friend Ann has a cozy home near Little Rock,

and I could just picture her with a cup of choffey, her Bible, and a lap quilt...

I call this one

Autumn at the Pond

because that's what the colors bring to mind.

I was determined to use what I had,

and I had plenty :D

I've been inspired by other Log Cabin quilts I've seen that are very

non-traditional Log Cabin,

ie not lights and darks,

but an unplanned mixture.

I like mixing fabrics that may not seem to go together,

but somehow it all works.

Like that bubbly teal with the more traditional looking leaf print.

For the backing, I used a large printed piece from Myanmar,

and a good-sized piece of gold leftover from making this tree skirt.

This quilt finished at 56" x 70".

Got it!