Are Quilts Just For Winter?

Not when they are crafted from paper!

I have not been fortunate enough to inherit quilts from my grandmothers or aunts.  Now that I think about it,  I can't recall seeing any of the women in my family working in the needle arts except Mama and she did crewel embroidery and and crochet. 

I was fortunate enough, however, to spend several years in the Midwest. I
found a best friend who quilted. Between her influence,  the ritual of autumn craft shows, local antiquing and the Amish community of Grabill, I fell in love with quilts. I learned to recognize many pattern names and their history. 

Ohio Star

Log Cabin

And then I wanted to learn how to quilt. I wanted baby quilts for my little ones. 

Technically I did learn to quilt. It was kindly suggested and agreed upon that a nine patch pattern might be a good one for a beginner, like me. So off I went to fabric stores in pursuit of primary color calicoes for a nursery decorated in yellow gingham and bright balloon wallpaper.

I pieced by hand. I quilted by hand and I still have that sweet little crib quilt. 

I continued to study quilts and began purchasing old quilts that were made by others' grandmothers.

My subsequent quilting endeavors have not been terribly successful. But I do love looking at fabric and dreaming about my next quilt. 

In the meantime, I look at paper the way quilters must look at fabric. I buy paper, then more paper.

And then I try to put paper and quilt patterns together.

I recently joined other Stampin' Up! crafters in a swap featuring the new 2021-2023 InColors. There was no sketch offered, just a list of colors and embellishments required. From a blank canvas, so to speak, a patchwork quilt came to mind.

And about the same time I was mulling over this idea, trying to divide fractions,  I came across a SU Demonstrator that is an avid bird watcher and quilter who is creating paper quilt blocks inspired by her birding. Luckily for me, I was able to purchase kits with cutting instructions and assembly directions. 

Duck Tracks 

Julie Heitz,  The Chirpy Cardmaker of Quilts - and more (her Facebook page), designed Duck Tracks, above.  This is my first attempt with one of her designs. I don't know what I was thinking, but whoa! I was cutting 11/16 th inch squares on the diagonal to make teensy triangles. 

I have another of her designs to try: Return of the Swallows. And perhaps more.

But for tonight, I am going to pull the quilt to the end of the bed; it is too hot for that extra layer.

On my floral square above I used the new Pansy Patch Designer Series Paper, plus Soft Succulent Cardstock and a gem from the InColor Jewels. Of course, you can find those products in my online store, just click Shop Now ~ let me know how I can help. 

Let's stamp!

 

Pansies for Thoughts

 

The Snowdrops bid you 'hope,'
The Bluebells say,  'I'm true!'
The pansy is for 'thought,'
Good luck (Heather) sweetheart for you!

The Victorians may just have perfected the Language of Flowers. Guides to flowers and their meaning were printed in 19th century ladies magazines, why? Proper conversation was dictated and defined; often thoughts that may not have been considered proper to whisper aloud or in person could be subtly conveyed with the presentation of a bouquet of symbolic flowers.

Ivy was symbolic of fidelity, red roses of love, lily of the valley of purity, daisy of innocence and so forth.

Flowers were sent between women and friends as well as between opposite sexes. London born writer and artist Kate Greenaway produced a small hand sized volume titled Language of Flowers in 1884.  Reproductions are still available.

The pansy is sometimes considered the best flower for beginner gardeners to plant and grow. Even I have never killed a pansy plant ~ about the only one.

But, I can turn to paper pansies thanks to the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog 2021 - 2022.

In my garden, a pair of scissors is my trowel and glue is the soil so that perfect flowers grow abundantly. This card was inspired by Jennifer Cotton. Before it looked like this, it looked like

something of a mess. The inspiration was just the beginning: which Designer Series Paperpatterns from Pansy Petals work well together, I asked myself.  Then, which of the three gingham colors to choose?  How to layer two patterns on top of each other? What color or colors for the pansies? I won't tell you how long that process took, but, I do like the result.

 My upcoming May class will feature the Pansy Patch Suite and the new 2021-2023 InColors, so one card design is not enough.

 

 More inspiration was found in a sweet fun fold card designed by Windy Ellard, and I wanted to play with it a bit. This is still in the works, but Stampin' Up! has more gardening tools I can use.

 

 

The Pansy Petals Dies include two different leaf outline dies and two flower outline dies that prune these perfectly. In each set of Pansy Petals Designer Series Paper there are two sheets of printed leaves in a variety of greens and two sheets of two sizes of printed pansy flowers. The new InColors of  Pale Papaya, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, Fresh Freesia and Polished Pink combine with a few old favorites to create the sweet faced flowers and leaves. 

And an extra feature of these dies is that they fit in the new Mini Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine. Die cutting them is just about as quick as cutting them yourself from the garden. And, they don't wilt or fade. Of course, the dies also fit quite easily into the larger Stampin' SU! Cut and Emboss Machine.

 You can find all of the items in the Pansy Petals Suite on pages 28 and 29  of the Annual Catalog. All images Stampin' Up! 

  This is my Shopping List :  

 https://www.stampinup.com/shared-lists/178d50fb-b06e-489b-8518-5f9068fabd8c?  

                         

You are welcome to order right from this blog, or I am happy to place an order for you.

 

Pansies - thoughts. Isn't that why we create our beautiful cards?

 

 

Let's stamp!

 

 

 

 

 Pansies for Thoughts

The snowdrops bid you  'hope,'

The Bluebells say, 'I'm true!'

The Pansy is for 'thought,'

Good luck (Heather) sweetheart for you!

The Victorians may just have perfected the Language of Flowers. Guides to flowers and their meaning were printed in 19th century ladies magazines, why? Proper conversation was dictated and defined; often thoughts that may not have been considered proper to whisper aloud or in person could be subtly conveyed with the presentation of a bouquet of symbolic flowers.

Ivy was symbolic of fidelity, red roses of love, lily of the valley of purity, daisy of innocence and so forth.

Flowers were sent between women and friends as well as between oposite sexes.

London born writer and artist Kate Greenaway produced a small hand sized volume titled Language of Flowers in 1884.  Reproductions are still available. 

The pansy is sometines considered the best flower for beginner gardeners to plant and grow. Even I have never killed a pansy plant ~ about the only one.

But, I can turn to paper pansies thanks to the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog 2021 - 2022.

In my garden, a pair of scissors is my trowel and glue is the soil so that perfect flowers grow abundantly. This card was inspired by Jennifer Cotton. Before it looked like this, it looked like

something of a mess. The inspiration was just the beginning: which Designer Series Paper  patterns from Pansy Petals work well together, I asked myself.  Then, which of the three gingham colors to choose?  How to layer two patterns on top of each other? What color or colors for the pansies? I won't tell you how long that process took, but, I do like the result.

My upcoming May class will feature the Pansy Patch Suite and the new 2021-2023 InColors, so one card design is not enough.

More inspiration was found in a sweet fun fold card designed by Windy Ellard, and I wanted to play with it a bit. This is still in the works, but Stampin' Up! has more gardening tools I can use.

The Pansy Petals Dies include two different leaf outline dies and two flower outline dies that prune these perfectly. In each set of Pansy Petals Designer Series Paper there are two sheets of printed leaves in a variety of greens and two sheets of two sizes of printed pansy flowers. The new InColors of  Pale Papaya, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, Fresh Freesia and Polished Pink combine with a few old favorites to create the sweet faced flowers and leaves. 

And an extra feature of these dies is that they fit in the new Mini Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine. Die cutting them is just about as quick as cutting them yourself from the garden. And, they don't wilt or fade. Of course, the dies also fit quite easily into the larger Stampin' SU! Cut and Emboss Machine.

You can find all of the items in the Pansy Petals Suite on pages 28 and 29  of the Annual Catalog. All images Stampin' Up!                                                                      

 This is my Shopping List :  

 https://www.stampinup.com/shared-lists/178d50fb-b06e-489b-8518-5f9068fabd8c?  

                         

You are welcome to order right from this blog, or I am happy to place an order for you.

Pansies - thoughts. Isn't that why we create our beautiful cards?

Let's stamp!