There was a TV commercial on the other night that used as it’s hook that spring was just around the corner, I looked at my husband and at the same time we both rolled our eyes.
Come on, spring is a good eight to ten weeks away.
But it got me thinking about spring. It is one of the reasons I made my Paper Keeper for Nancy Zieman using my Trillium pattern design.
I often hear in class where do you get your ideas? And I have shared with you over and over again where I get my ideas – from everywhere.
My pattern Trilliums is a perfect example of that.
Trilliums are some of the first wild flowers to bloom in the woods. I discovered that the Trilliums in my woods are the most common red kind, but there are all different colors of Trilliums. Years ago I saw huge Celadon light green ones when I visited Spring Green, WI. I would love to have those in my yard.
Trilliums was one of my first fused quilts. It measures 30” x 40” .
If you notice theseTrilliums are growing up out of a bed of dead old last year oak leaves, so when I designed my quilt I wanted to incorporate the oak leaves in the design. They have now become one of my favorite things to add to my quilts.
When I first made this quilt I didn’t want to use all “realistic colors”. I certainly used the green and deep pinks for the flowers and leaves, but then I needed something to set them off and let them show up on the background.
After “auditioning” many colors the blue seemed to be just right.
When I added in the first border I picked something that would make the background pop, my all time favorite neutral – lime green.
I have always loved the blue/green/aqua color combination. I think that stems from loving sky, grass and trees.
But when I went to add in the leaves in the outside border I choose to use the complimentary colors of green – pink, purple, and magenta for the oak leaves. I changed the scale of the leaves to give them more drama and because they needed to be big to even out the composition.
When I started making patterns I made a small version of Trilliums and called it Petite Trilliums. By the time I started designing patterns I was also producing my own hand dyed fabrics.
I used one yard of my hand dyed rainbow gradation to create the whole petite quilt top. The only colors I didn’t use where the yellows on the far right.
You can see that I used the middle section where the purple, magenta and fuchsia come together for the outside border. I used the area where the turquoise and blue merge to create the background behind the trilliums and I used the greens at the far left for the Trillium stems, leaves and beards. I used complimentary colors for the oak leaves and placed them against their compliment on the outside border.
This is one of my favorite patterns and quilts, I think because I get to see the Trilliums every year and they represent spring, but also because the colors are so clear and happy.
Hi Frieda
Did you cut the oak leaves by hand or did you have a die to cut them?
The oak leaves are all cut by hand using very sharp embroidery scissors. Having very sharp scissors is a must for doing clean precision work.
I’d never seen a trillium until I saw your work. I love them, and can see why you like to work with them. The lines are clean and simple, so the colors sort of tell the story.