This post is dedicated to Linda who listens to everything I say and remembers all of it--even all the little boring details! When we were chatting on line tonight, Linda asked if I had posted a picture of my pansy table runner yet. I replied that I hadn't. I mentioned that I was behind on so many of my posts. Linda suggested I talk about the pansy series of projects that I finished, and the connection to pansies in my family. So Linda, here it goes! *VBG*
Back in May 2008, my aunt, my mother, and I took a girls' only road trip to Oregon to visit a part of the country that we had a family connection to--somewhere my mother had visited previously with her father. See the post here:
http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2008/06/girls-road-trip-fabs-meet-for-first.html
and here:
http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2008/06/girls-road-trip-part-two.html
We did some fabric shopping at Joann's in Roseburg, Oregon. I fell in love with a fabric collection by Debbie Mumm that featured pansies. Pansies are a flower that links the women in my family. Pansies were a favorite flower of my grandmother, my aunt, my mother, and myself. My grandmother painted pansy pictures for each of us and I always think first of my grandmother when I see pansies.
I recently finished four projects from the pansy fabrics.
The first piece was a table topper that was gifted to my aunt for Christmas this past year.
The second piece in the pansy series was a Disappearing Nine Patch that was gifted to my Mother this past Christmas.
The final two pieces in the series were a lap quilt and table runner for myself.
I am so finished with winter and I am so ready for spring. Rather than put the table runner away until the weather improves and spring actually arrives, I decided to put it out now. It may not be spring outside, but I can make it feel a little like spring inside.
The road trip I mentioned above was where I first met two of the FABs in person--Cher and Pam. So in honor of this meeting, the backing fabric for all of these pieces is purple. After all, purple IS the FAB colour!
These four pieces bring together a lot of symbolism--pansies for the women in my family and the two FAB sisters I met in Oregon that have become such an important part of my extended family, purple to celebrate all five of the FABs which includes those that live in WI and AL, and a wonderful memory of a girls only road trip.
This is a close up shot of some of the snow in our yard.
DH and I decided to bundle up and go for a walk in the snow.
Branches were heavy with snow.
The robins seemed confused by all the snow.
They were puffed up in the trees--trying to stay warm.
This is the tree in our front yard. I don't like snow, but I have to admit that it made this tree look gorgeous.
Some of the streets in our little town.
After our walk, we warmed up with hot chocolate and fresh banana bread.
Today I am wanting to get back to working on my Bridge Creek Blossom quilt. I put the blocks up on the design wall Friday night and played with their placement. As you can see, it is a little hard to lay out the blocks for a queen size quilt on a double size design wall. We'll see how far I get on this top today.
