Briar Rose
Outside my window, I have a lovely bramble of red roses and honeysuckle, which the birds love. Sparrows, finches, robins, and mockingbirds are the most frequent and loudest visitors. The hummingbirds are much more stealthy. I enjoy cracking the window to here them chirp, squawk, and buzz. Yes – buzz. Hummingbirds sound like bumblebees when you are very close to them. When you walk past it, a dozen birds will fly out. Of course, the neighborhood cat Loki likes to lurk under it, which may be why our dogs are so fascinated by the bramble as well.
It is a feast of color with vibrant green and red, peppered with yellow, peach and pink. The honeysuckle leaves are almost evergreen, while the rose bush fades when the frost arrives. They both tangle over a faded wooden fence, that adds to the visual appeal.
The best part is the fragrance of the honeysuckle and rose, especially at dusk. That is when the scent is most alluring.
Now, that you have the image of my window, you can understand what inspired Briar Rose. The gorgeous, almost gossamer, Brilliant Blooms collection by Hoffman was a perfect fit (see page 47 of their project catalog). The tangle of vines and branches became the chain blocks. The applique silhouettes are the honeysuckle clusters and the buds motifs are the roses preparing to open to the sun. It is all brought together in the frame of my window as the border. The beauty of this quilt is that the piecing is easy, strip piecing, half square triangles and quarter square triangles. Meanwhile, the motifs are flexible. It can be fused, machine or hand appliqued. Briar Rose is 87-inches square. But you make it larger by extending the outer border with the beautiful floral print.
Briar Rose is available for retail and wholesale from our shop. We hope you enjoy this quilt as much as we do.
Happy Quilting
Laureen
