I've been playing with my favourite colouring set again - Tilda Fabric's Creating Memories collection - and as I mentioned in previous posts (here and here) just because they're already helpfully grouped into seasonal palettes that doesn't mean we can't mix them up a bit, which is what I've done in this occasional series of posts. This time I'm playing with the delicate shades of early spring, when blackthorn blossom hazes the twiggy hedgerows, daffodils illuminate the woodland floor and every branch is sprinkled with the tiniest green buds.
clockwise from the top: Paint Dots grey, Gingham yellow, Avery blue, Sophie teal, Stripe toffee, Avery yellow, Stripe blue, Sophie sand, Plaid pea green, Stripe yellow, Paint Dots light blue, Sophie dijon, Plaid stone
Most spring palettes lean towards the blossom pinks of late spring, indeed Tilda's does, but I always look forward to the cheer of those bright, early spring yellows - from demure primrose to dazzling forsythia - sparkling against the muted browns and greys of bare branches and cool skies.
I love to bring bare cherry branches into the warmth of the house to force at this time of year, hanging them with blown egg decorations while we wait for the blossom buds to break. The cooler tones in our Spring Story would create an elegant Easter table with forced blossom as a centrepiece.
We will need to round out our spring décor with a quilt or two, of course. First up is Wintersweet. This was originally made as a Christmas quilt, so I've simply swapped out the red prints for yellow (cutting 4 2½” x 21” pieces from each) and the green prints for blues, grey-browns and green (cutting 5 2½” x 21” pieces from each) (you could also substitute two or three 2½” x 21” pieces of each the low volume prints to make up the quilt's strip sets, giving it the scrappy vintage look of my original). Find the free Wintersweet pattern here.
Next - and what could be more fitting - the Spring Sunshine variation of my Sunshine quilt, inspired by the daffodils outside my studio window…
...because sunshine is what we're all longing for! A row of these pretty blocks would make a cheery runner for your Easter table too.
And finally, a quilty tribute to the tiny blue tits who personify this colour story and who'll be busy building their nests in our garden very soon. I've adapted this block from the Robin in my Kitchen Garden quilt and I'll be sharing a block tutorial - and a free pattern - in my next post.
Spring, I'm ready for you!
with love from the studio,
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