Spring Fever

This is the view just outside my back door, which faces south.

The sun is shining and the plum trees are in full bloom.  I've just weeded my perennial container garden, and I have some quilts to share.  For many quilters, Quilt Season is Fall and Winter, but for me, the pleasure of designing new quilts and patterns peaks when the summer quilts for the Send-It-Home Yarn and Quilts Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana, are ready to have their portraits taken and the patterns printed. 

This is one of the quilts I've designed using McKenna Ryan fabrics from Kauffman.  First, the fabrics:

There are two prints with moose, the light at the back and the darker at the front in the photo. 

This was my first design, but it was too much like the Yes Deer quilt we did last year. 

The final design mixes two different 12" blocks.  The light, medium and dark greys in the corner blocks and corner 4-patch blocks are all cut from one length of fabric with ombre shading from very light to almost black. 

Here's the quilted but not bound finished quilt,  Moose in the Mist.  The binding will be the same dark blue-green as the 1/2 inch inner border.  Finished size is 45 inches. 

The patterns and kits for this quilt will be available this summer, along with a Bear quilt made from the green colorway of these fabrics.  It looks pretty good thrown over the back of my rocking chair, but would be striking as a table cover, on a wall, or, my personal favorite, waiting on a bed for a sleepy baby. 

And this is the Pig of Spring, in the grape hyacinths under the apricot tree under my kitchen window.  Yes, I bought it for my sister who involuntarily collects pigs, but it will sit in the garden until she comes to fetch it.  Piggy is about 8 inches tall with wings.