Spring Time Tulips

Springtime and the tulips are popping up somewhere - not here in Alberta yet!

I've had this buttery yellow floral print for a while and thought I could use it to bring a bit of springtime early. (pictures are from early 2025)

A sweet tulip pattern and some custom quilting by me.

It's always hard for me to decide what I want to quilt. I'm getting better every time I do my own quilting, but I still prefer to send my big quilts out to be quilted and my go-to for most projects is an all-over meander. 

And I had a piece of this sweet pink bicycle fabric that was just large enough for the back! Can't say I planned that out - just lucky!

Do you change out your decor for spring?

--Ann

Spring Quilted Wall Hanging

I'm not always a fan of panels. They are often hard to square up because of the way they've been printed or rolled on the bolt, but I like the whimsical designs of Nancy Halverson (Art to Heart).

 I don't remember when I bought this panel and the coordinating fabrics, but I looking for a spring quilt to hang on my wall. Because of my Dutch heritage, spring means tulips in every shade and color! So I pieced a tulip border.

 When working with pieced borders, sometimes they don't quite finish at the measurement needed. And that happened here and I added the green strip in different widths to make it all work out.

 My friend and fellow quilter, Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts, quilted it on her long arm machine with an all over tulip quilting design.

 The backing is a floral I've had for a while that's found it's way onto the back of a number of quilts. I think this is the last of it - I don't remember seeing any when I did my year end fabric inventory!

And as much as I wanted a spring quilted wall hanging, this quilt caught someone's eye on my Facebook page and it has a new home!

Now I need to look for new fabrics and ideas for the next quilt!

--Ann

Springtime! Let the Growing Begin!

When the sun starts to shine a little brighter and the grass turns green and the leaves start to pop open on the trees, I like to be outside in the yard and garden.

Lilac buds

There's something about spring and garden planting that makes me think about hope and new life and promises kept. Something about planting a seed and knowing that by itself, it's just a small, dry piece of nothing. When it's planted and the sun shines on it and the rain waters it, it swells and grows into exactly what it was meant to be - a pumpkin, a pea plant, a carrot.

Garden greens peeking through

 Sometimes it looks like there is nothing there, but then a bit of green pops up, a flower blooms and then it's gone again for the rest of the season like this yellow lady's slipper.

Yellow Lady's Slipper

Others look small and delicate, like the lily of the valley, but they are persistent and will slowly spread over a large area if not contained.

Lily of the Valley

And then there's the so-called weeds, like the dandelion, that are their own little rays of sunshine and if we can put aside our preconceived notions about them, we can open our eyes up to see the beauty even in the unwanted.

Dandelion

As I look around my yard, in my garden and in the nature that surrounds us, I see the hand of the unseen creator and am thankful for the gifts of spring and hope and new life.

Happy Spring!

--Ann