Old Man of the Forest
I come from a long line of nature-lovers and half of my ancestors hail from Ireland. So it is no wonder that the Celtic version of the Green Man has interested me. He has been popular in art for millennia across the globe. He adorns churches, gravestones, and homes....
Flora and Fauna
Throughout my life, I have spend time traipsing through the woods, admiring the beauty of nature. Recently, my son and I discovered a lovely, nearby trail called Cathedral. On the trail, tall trees arched over the mulch and moss covered trail. It was in the middle of...
Fall Whimsy
Fall is one of my favorite seasons. For some fall lovers, it is football, going back to school, apple picking, and pumpkin patches. For me, it is about foliage and flowers. Fall brings jewel-toned chrysanthemums, purple and white asters, goldenrod, and gradations of...
Penchant for Peacocks
Apparently, I have a penchant for peacocks. There is something about their majestic, jewel tones that makes them spectacular to watch. At almost every zoo I have ever visited, I was greeted at some point by a beautifully, plumed male peacock. If I was lucky, he would...
Half Rectangle Triangles – Two at a Time
So many patterns contain Half Square Triangles (HST), that we have created dozens of ways to make them quickly and avoid minimize the bias stretch. The most common was is to make them two at a time. Cut two square 1-inch larger than the finished size. Draw a diagonal...
Strawberry Fields Forever
I love strawberries! As kids, my mom would take us with her to a local farm and we would pick (and eat) strawberries for hours. The farmer would joke that he should weigh us before and after, then charge the difference for the strawberries! Of course, we were so...
Oxypetalum or Southern Star
I am an avid, but laissez-faire gardener. “If it lives – yeah! If it dies, it wasn’t meant to be.” My garden is full of plants with a wide variety of foliage and flowers. Some plants thrive, like penstemon red husker. I pull it out liberally,...
Broadening
With each quilt project, I try to broaden my horizons and learn something new. Sometimes that is playing with different colors than I would usually pick. Others, it is adding a new technique for assembling the quilt. Often the design itself is an extension of the...
