Nature's Journey Bouquet

Here we have a photo of a lovely bouquet presented to me by my kids to congratulate me on my recently published book.  Carla had sent my cover photo image to a wonderful florist in Minneapolis, who created the arrangement.  I just love it!  

Having my book finished and out there, I now find myself in a sort of limbo.  What shall I do now?  I need to regroup.  I will continue making show quilts and work on other projects, but gee, should I think about my next book?  

In the meantime, I decided to do a make-over of one of the guest rooms.  Having the old windows replaced was the first step and the impetus to get going.  As decorators will tell you, start with the largest item in the room, in this case that would be the twin beds.  New "Cubism Birds" duvet covers from West Elm were chosen. Next, I took down existing wall quilts and pictures to have a clean slate.  

After looking at blank walls, I searched for new art work on Etsy and elsewhere.  Not finding anything, I went to my fabric stash and pulled out a pile of colors that I thought would work for a quilted wallhanging. I wanted to keep the overall look of the birds and bring in color.  Other than the birds' turquoise eyes, which I love, the duvet covers are neutral grays and white.  

Leo immediately nestled amongst my chosen fabrics and I assumed he approved.

I often incorporate circles in my quilts and that's where I began.  I cut circles in different sizes from 1" to 3" in diameter, layered them randomly color-wise, placed them in rows and started fusing. 

Yesterday, I finished appliqué stitching the top and will now add a narrow framing border (to look like framed art) and I'll machine quilt it with an all-over squarish block design.  

Title:  "Cubic Circles".  

Loon on Echo Lake and color inspiration.