Bird Nest On The Ground

Tonight I wanted to say something about 'inspiration.'  As you know, all of us are inspired by a vast assortment of things and many different people and whatever it is they do to help us dream and imagine all the wonderful experiences we hope to have in our lives.  To me, I find inspiration in the 'everyday' things of daily life.  And, then, there is the inspiration I receive from people I've been fortunate enough to spend time with.  This week, I had a visit from some friends who reminded me that I'm most inspired by people who have ENTHUSIASM.  No matter what their  specific interest is...it's the enthusiasm that grabs my heart and won't let go.

Three friends from Mountain View came to visit me at the downtown studio.  Old friends, and dear.
They brought along a new friend and I know she is one I can make 'an old friend out of ' for, like the other three,  she quilts and shared one of their traits...enthusiasm!  Knowing they were coming to visit, I took six quilts down to the studio with me so I could provide a little 'Show and Tell' for them.
Now, I knew my three friends had already seen these quilts, but my NEW friend had not.  You'd never know it though, as all four of them oohed and aahed over each quilt as if they'd never seen them before.  ENTHUSIASM!  I don't know what seeing these quilts did for them, but it did me a world of good to know that my quilts still could make people smile.  And, their comments made me really want to buckle down and QUILT!! 

So, Susan, Linda, Joan and Kay.....you said I inspired YOU, but really, you inspired ME!  And, that my friends is really good medicine!  And, a few laughs here and there is also!  So, because you seemed to enjoy seeing the quilts....I'm showing a peek of each one here.  This basket, well, I won't go into the story of it here, but I know you liked it and you gave me a keener appreciation of it through your comments.  It is made with vintage scraps and I quilted it to look 'old.' 

These are just little peeks, as I said, of the six quilts....they've been shown in my blog posts before.
For those who have never read my blog before...all my work is by hand.  This quilt I made for my grandson when he was a small child....now 26, he still appreciates it.  Actually, when he was that little kid, he called every piece of my fabric stash 'a quilt.'  Each star on this quilt is a different blue scrap of fabric.

 And, yes, the border is appliqued, not pieced.  Actually, I am known around here for applique over piecing, but I can and do piece occasionally.

These photos turned out way to yellow (photos too light, too dark or too yellow - what you get when you try to take impromptu photos at ten o'clock at night in a rather dark bedroom!)....but I included this one in the Show and Tell because of the appliqued hearts (one of my favorite motifs) and the surrounding embroidery.

 Then, there is that embroidered "E" monogram.  I wish I had left that part off this quilt....to tell the truth, but I DO love that bow!

 And, I loved stitching this little angular vine around the first border of the quilt.  It was great fun!

 I have come to love embroidery on my quilts....and now can't imagine not embellishing my quilts in this way. 

Notice the hearts on this quilt.  The fabric was hand-dyed years ago by my friend, Mary Morgan.  She gave me several pieces in shades of this teal color and some pinks too.  And, as always, my favorite  heart motif.  I have two quilts Mary dyed fabric for...even more special to me since she passed away.

Lots of silk ribbon embroidery embellishes this quilt.  I believe I showed you this not too long ago.
I've always said I'd make another, but to date, one hasn't appeared and I don't know if I would do another completely covered with silk ribbon embroidery.  Well, actually, who knows?

I loved stitching this little cluster of flowers and the leaves.  This quilt took months to make and it is one of my favorites....maybe just because of all the work involved.

And, then, there is the border.  If you click to enlarge, you can see the beads I included in the quilting stitches.  I did enjoy that and had no idea I'd like it until it was nearly done.  

 Last...some more applique.  This is one of the few quilts I made with someone else's pattern.  It is made from one of Robyn Pandolph's patterns and nearly all of it from her line of fabric.  LOVE!

 So, you can see what I showed the girls on Wednesday.  They seemed to enjoy their little quilt

Show and Tell.  I've heard since from a couple of them and have been told they DID enjoy it, thanking ME for sharing my quilts and inspiring THEM.  But, actually, what they don't know is as I said at the beginning of this post....THEY inspire ME!!!  And, the enthusiasm they had....well, it's catching and that's a really GOOD thing!  Thanks for the visit my Mountain View friends...and til we meet again...Happy Quilting!  And, you out there in the Blogosphere....hope you enjoyed the little peek at my quilts too.  take care, pat