Presenting “Colors from Nature”

With pride, I present to you some photos from our brand new book, “Colors from Nature.” The concept of the book is using color and design from nature to inspire quilts, crafts and even decorating projects. We selected some beautiful photos as our starting inspiration. With some analysis of each landscape photo we tried to interpret the overall feeling with fabrics and projects. It was very fun and challenging. Paring down and simplifying a design can often be more challenging than making it complex and representational. My goal with our quilt designs is to make them interesting and pleasing while still being easy to make. 

Rocky Revelations may be one of my favorites. Courthouse steps is a classic traditional block and with the fabric we used I feel we captured a look that can as easily be considered modern as it is vintage. I love how the shapes resemble the stones with the snippets of orange represent the leaves scattered among the rocks. 

The rows of warm colors in Desert Dimensions mimic layers of clay in the stone canyon walls of the Southwest desert. The green brush and blue skies bring in interesting color contrasts. I think the rows of simple triangles accomplish this representation well and would be stunning displayed on the wall or as a bed topper.

Red poppies along with yellow and white daisies frolic across the quilt top of Meadow Melodies. This cheery color story represents my favorite hues of high summer. When I look at this I can breathe in the fragrances of the meadow and even feel a little breeze across my face.

We also cover other wonders from Mother Nature in River Reflections, Seaside Serenity, Mountain Masterpiece, Forest Foliage and Floral Flamboyance. Colors from Nature also includes a couple of appliqué quilts and a unique and clever assortment of decorating and crafting accessories. Please enjoy this glimpse into the pages of the book and I hope you find lots of inspiration to create! 

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Behind the Seams – New Book!

I thought you might be curious to see what behind the scenes on our most recent book photo shoot looked like…….In the book you see our finished product and a perfectly positioned project and props.  But all around the focus of the photo is usually a fair amount of chaos. There are lights, camera, cords and usually an unusual (sometimes bizarre) assortment of props and backdrops that we audition for the photo. More times than not, there is a lot of trial and error for props. OK, let’s try this; look in the camera; and then move it a quarter inch to the left, and this goes on for hours! Our photo team is Tom (awesome photographer!), Carolyn (amazing book editor!), and Monica (dazzling book designer!) and Myself (main responsibility is being picky).

Our photo shoot was actually done in October of last year. It takes us 9 months for us to give birth to a book, from conception to delivery. I can’t wait for you to see the real thing. It’s called “COLORS from NATURE” and is being released (born!) on May 15. I’ll keep you posted and give you a sneak peak before the release. I think you’ll love it. 

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