Saturday, July 31, 2010

Celebrate Romance

Some of these lovely fabrics will be used in a quilt I am going to make for the next challenge for my Yahoo Small Quilt  group.


I will call it "Romance Stars."


If you're not a member, join us in the fun and make a small star quilt using some of your own "romantic" floral fabrics.  If you don't have any, why I think it's a perfect excuse to go out and buy some new fabric. You have my permission, LOL.


I've been collecting some of these prints over the past year or two ( in a romantic floral box, of course) and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them.  While I was in the hospital, I was hooked up to an IV drip and couldn't go very far without unplugging and dragging the whole d*** machine with me so, while I rested, the only thing I looked at to relax (when the TV wasn't on) were the pretty floral drapes at the window. A very romantic pattern that made me feel like quilting when I got better.


The challenge deadline is October 4 so I think I'll have plenty of time, barring any health relapses, LOL.

Create your own little quilt design from the block directions.

I've always been drawn to the sentimental and the romantic and some of my undergraduate study centered around the British Romantic poets of the late 18th to early 19th centuries - William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Lord Byron. As part of an independent study through the English and Art departments, I visited the Lake District in England to see what all the excitement was about.  


"I wandered lonely as a
Cloud
That floats on high o'er
Vales and Hills,
When at once I saw a
crowd
A host of dancing
Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath
the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in
the breeze." 

-William Wordsworth, 1807

The British Romantic poets believed that nature and emotion were the places in which one found spiritual truth. Most of the poets attributed to children special innate gifts. According to  Wordsworth - they come from heaven “trailing clouds of glory.” Poetry to them was a “spontaneous overflow of feelings,” often inspired by nature.


"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
        -John Keats

After seeing Wordsworth's cottage garden at Dove Cottage, I knew I wanted to plant my own someday. Took me quite a few years but I'm sort of on my way!





So yes, in addition to being a true sentimentalist, I am also a true romantic too. Make a "Romance Star" quilt to celebrate romance . . .

Time for another romantic garden party dinner?

9 comments:

Cheryl said...

I love your hollyhocks and coneflowers! Is that a soft coated wheaten I see? I just finished one of your quilts from Remembering Adelia and posted a picture of it on my blog. Check it out at fatesdesigns.blogspot.com. I teach at a shop and plan to offer a class on it, emphasizing your clever use of value! Thanks for the inspiration!

Kathleen Tracy said...

How did you know? I DO have a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier--where do you see him?? Is he hiding in the garden again?

Karen said...

oooh..the most beautiful hollyhocks. Such a nice complement to the cone flowers. I will also keep that idea in mind for next year! Always looking for nice floral complements.
I also love the florals you pulled for "Romantic Stars" . I think I have every piece of what you showed, lol. Such is the life of a fabric-a-holic

Spice said...

great dish!

Kathleen Tracy said...

I blogged about those dishes in May - I've aleady gotten a few queries about them today.

http://sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/2010/05/dinner-in-garden.html

Dora, the Quilter said...

I love your cottage garden--and wish we had enough rain or water to have one in NM. I'm struggling to keep some baby Rose of Sharon plants alive. The rain we received today (and which may continue off an on tonight) will help. How lovely that you were able to visit the Lake District. I get my Lake-District-Fix by watching Miss Potter (love Beatrice Potter and her art, and the movie is okay, but the scenery is the reason I watch it over and over!).

Jeanneke said...

OMG, what a beautifull border fabric I see in one of your pics (those with the dark brown and roses)... I suppose it's an oldie? I'm only quilting for a few years now, and really get jealous when I see such a nice fabrics. Over here in Holland fabrics are hard to find, although we have a few very nice quiltshops. Maybe I should plan our next holiday to the USA.

I also love your pink flowers, over here we call them 'branche roses'.

I will sign myself up for the quilt challenge at the Yahoo smallquilttalk group.

Have a nice day,

Jeanneke

Gale, Ky quilter said...

I LOVE all your flowers - those on the lovely fabric and those in your garden!!! Hollyhocks are my favorite - my Mother grew those when I was a child. Just found your blog and so glad I did! I have two of your books - Prairie Children and their Quilts and I recently bought Remembering Adelia. Love your patterns and fabric choices! So glad I found you! I'm following you now!
Happy Quilting!!!

Connie204 said...

Your flowers are beautiful and your garden reminds me of my mom. She always had a pretty English garden. I've been thinking I would like to try a small quilt. I think I have the perfect fabric for it. Thanks for the inspiration. Connie

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