“A Goose Landed on My Daisy!”

Here’s a peek at my most recent challenge piece.  It’s for two challenges rolled into one!  That may have been the real challenge, in and of itself.  As I pondered, “how do I get this done without killing myself trying to successfully be part of both groups?” this answer above came to me.

 The challenge given from The Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild was, “Put a goose on it.”  It’s a play on words as the traditional quilting block’s called a “flying geese” and looks like this:

Cath over at WombatQuilts.com has a blog on TINY flying geese and how she pieced them be sure to check it out at: WombatQuilts.com

My second challenge was from a group, I helped start in New Hampshire, Creative Conglomeration.  Their challenge?  “Spring.”  It wasn’t that hard to decide.  I love daises. I love everything about them, from their meaning (innocence), to their easy going nature, to their affordability.  Daisies are just a happy little flower.

I hand-dyed the flower’s center using Jaquard Fabric Dyes (technique to be covered in a future post)

hand drafted the flying geese spiral,

figured out the tricky piecing,

and then played with fabrics to get a pleasing color gradient for the flower’s center.

I reverse needle turn appliquéd the spiral and then used free motion quilting. After toying with the idea of placing gestural petal shadows on the piece via appliqué, I decided the style lent itself more to the modern quilting mantra, “less is more.”

I spent my 50th birthday in my studio, finishing this up.  The day was full reading sweet birthday cards and wishes from friends and family on FB.   I also enjoyed Skyping and blogging.  All in all, it was a great birthday that even included dinner and roses from my sweet husband culminating with, The FWMQG’s meeting where the “goose” challenge was revealed then completed by drinks afterwards with new friends.  So far, I’d have to say 50’s been pretty spectacular.