Fresh Flowers Introduction

Introduction

This project may appear to be quite difficult. The skill level is average, but what it does need is time and patience.

Maybe you don't have enough patience you say, well here's a chance to cultivate some. The world is moving so fast and so very crowded with a most intimidating kind of progress. Anything we can do to pace ourselves toward softer, gentler moments is very important to our health; physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Maybe you don't have enough time you say, but somewhere make a little space for something that eases the spirit. It can be counted in minutes and need not be quilting. Remember, smell the roses.

It is possible this project may unleash the frustrated artist in you as it did in me. Just manipulate the fabric instead of wield the brush.

Winters can be dreary and cold and anytime you can work on flowers is like making your own sunshine.

These patterns are meant to stir your creative juices and help you find the inspiration to design your own flowers. I'm sure God put flowers on earth to give joy to the spirit and help us through the bad times. Explore the world around for the beauty we are meant to see. Have your camera handy to capture the flowers on film and then capture them in fabric.

Since there is no precise piecing to be done, it is easier than you think. There is no pressing, little basting, no tricky corners to be met, no matching points, and no raw edges. What more could you ask for?

You can go as far as you want to in this project. Far beyond the quilt is the inspiration for pictures and pillows, for tables and chairs, for boxes and baskets, for hats and handbags, for vests and jackets, not to mention a gift for any occasion (A treasured gift would be a violet picture for a February birthday).

Dimensional techniques can be incorporated into any project. They can be used with traditional patterns. Leaves that fold over or ribbons that twist, folding, pleating, rolling, facing and other free form techniques will allow you to create flowers that seem so real you may try to smell them.

I have included in this book the complete patterns and instructions for the flowers. I hope they will be easy to follow. I promise you that you will never look at flowers in the same way again.