Desperate for spring

What is spring?  It seems so long now that it is hard to remember.  But leafing through my mind to a year ago, it means yellow in sun and flowers; golden light on chrome in the kitchen; yellow and pink in easter fabrics among the things I long to see.

Reality is cold and white.  The white is getting a bit tattered around the edges and some crazy magnolia tree buds are swelling but it is not spring.

Next best thing, work with spring colours.  Spring is also a time to make quilts for children in hospital and I was quilting one yesterday. I got to try out a design I had drawn while under the thumb of recovery from surgery.  Well the quilt had pink and a lovely yellow back as well as lots of colour in the strips out of which it was made. In spite of the weather outside, inside on the quilting frame was spring and it was fun to take something from paper to the quilt and to enjoy the doodling and the colours.

Here is a small dose of yellow.

In bits and snatches I am conquering EQ7.  It is really nifty and a great thing for quilters whose minds run in inspiration mode.  It is also great to test out colours on blocks.  I used to use Excel but that had it limits.   I love paper piecing so here is my first block designed, sewn and cut sheet made; a crazy, scrappy block.  Thanks to Carol Doak for teaching how to do the cut sheet in her latest book 'Creative Combinations' where she shares so many tips. That is one of the great qualities of quilters. They share knowledge willingly and with great generosity.  They are sunshine.