Is it almost spring?

As I look out the window in my sewing room, I am seeing sunshine today! It is the promise of springtime and even though there may still be a few snowflakes out there, spring is just around the corner again. For that I am very grateful. Not just for the warmer temperatures but for the granddaughter that I will meet very soon. I have been waiting for March since last August!

I have been quiet recently and I will share what I have been doing. I have had the opportunity to share with some quilters in our shop as well as having the opportunity to do some teaching. There is so much to look forward to this year, especially the MidAtlantic Shop Hop during July and August. It is being sponsored by Benartex and the fabrics are just lovely. The hop will include shops from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. If you are in this area, check it out here on Facebook.

So, I have been making some samples for our shop in Selbyville, DE. One of the things that I have been doing is playing around with panels. I think that graphic designers have created some amazing panels these days so I was inspired when I saw some of them. I took a Christmas panel and cut some slices out of it and added wood grain fabrics to create a window.

As I started this project, I started to determine where to make the slices. I realized that just slicing was not enough. I had to remove a small amount each time or Santa would look like an even wider version of a plump gentleman!

I discovered that panels do open design opportunities other than simply sewing borders and quilting all over. So I started digging through the shop panel inventory to see where my next idea might be.

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I found a really cute Timna Tarr panel that had twelve of her pixelated animals on it. If you are not familiar with her pixelated portrait quilts, her website has a lovely gallery. She does online classes as well. Here is her website if you would like to check her out.

These delightful animals are just fun to look at. There were 12 different animals as well. No repeats! That made the panel very interesting as many times there may be repeated designs.

You can see that I simply added some sashing them after trimming them down to 8 1/2 inches each.I then added the cornerstones to help set them apart a bit more.

The border is a Carol Breyer Fallert fabric that I dug out from my stash and it is perfect!
Baby quilt gift? Perhaps!

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The bulk of my time has been spent on some additional villages to add to my growing collection of the wall hangings that I have been creating. This technique is from Karen Eckmeier's book Happy Villages.

I have been absolutely smitten with this technique since taking her class. Recently I completed my river village. I have been trying to challenge myself to work with different colors and shapes and ideas. I have also learned something each time I have made a new village. Thread choices, placements, embellishments. There is a lot to learn every time we do a project.

I used a picture from Karen's book to influence my color palette. She had a photo of a river village that reminded me of the river in Philadelphia that ran in front of Boathouse Row. I used it as my inspiration but I just couldn't make it work. YET! It will come later.

This shape for the village was a challenge because I had to work vertically primarily. It is definitely less whimsical than my Christmas and Halloween but I really like the challenge to be quieter.

I had to add my dogs to the village because every town should have some pooches! I did hide a porcupine and a fox. There are some birds and one yellow bird that my husband thinks is a BIG BIRD! lol

I used a lot of different color threads for this. The background fabric for me dictates the color needed at most times. This is one of my hardest decisions always. I have picked out more than a few stitches which is no easy feat with tulle!

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My latest village is a Valentine Village. This is still in progress and I am just using my first thread color which is a very light pink. It really blends with so many of the fabrics that I used in the houses. I will be using red and black and probably a deeper pink. I will be adding embellishments as well.

What's next? I have a long list. I have been asked to teach a class about creating villages and I have been given the thumbs up by Karen to do so. I am humbled and excited too!

I hope that you are finding enjoyment in whatever project you are pursuing right now. I love to get lost in my sewing room and leave the outside world behind for a little world.

Happy sewing, quilting or crafting of any kind!

Piecefully,

Trisha

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