inspired #1

as i prepare to head home to my machine and sewing room with stash, i am getting excited about the wips i have there that i can get back to work on. i'm pretty revved to finish off my gypsy wife quilt (how has it been twleve years???) and accompanying "gypsy hst child," as well as a few other beloved but long-delayed projects. as i've knocked off some other longterm wips this past month, i'm quite motivated to just work on finishes and see how far i can get with them.

however . . . 

i also have at least one new make that i'm burning to do.

when d5 and i went to quiltcon in february, i was smitten with this grellow/greens/pink "snaketrails" quilt in the denyse schmidt booth. it was so vibrant and alluring. thank you denyse for marking the quilt with a tag that had details. the background is a ruby + bee solid in "lemonade." although i didn't absolutely love the neon pinks in the quilt, i think there are pinks i would like to mix in with the greens. 

 

you can get this as a quilt kit on the DS website, but i have found in the past i do not enjoy making quilts from kits. and as much as i like the look of this snaketrails quilt, i'm not up for the curved piecing and templates it requires. 

this means i need to find a similar but different kind of pattern. i think i will be happiest with lots of the "lemonade" and small pieces for the prints, although the idea of cutting a lot of new yardage into little bits is daunting and discouraging. seems like it would be better done with scraps, if i had them. but i don't have enough green scraps in the right colors. i was a part of the DS patchwork panel club last year, so i have the panel she used for this quilt. i've been dreaming of how else to get this effect of all the little green pieces with a lot of "lemonade" background.

i have some ideas. 

this is a "lemonade" looking colorway of denyse's "run + fall" quilt. lots of background, little pieces. i can see this being fun with the green and pink prints.

i love jolene's "field of triangles" quilts. i think i would strip piece the triangles to get more of the fabrics mixed together. otherwise, it has a lot of the background color and would be pretty cool, i think.

i saw this beautiful "irish chain" variation on IG from orla brady at "diddy and meg." just precious! and, goodness, a whole lot of small, intricate piecing. but i guess that's the look i'm going for.

and slightly less intricate, but could still have a big punch of "lemonade" and mix up the patterns would be an alternating version of the treehouse crossroads quilt done like my "sunny crossroads" quilt. in my yellow version (a companion to my "sunny geese" quilt) i am making two blocks from each paring of fabrics: one with the yellow print as background, one with the low-volume neutral as the background. i could do this with the "lemonade" and prints, using an appropriate pink for the centers.

my dream for any of these quilts i make would be a pink liberty capel backing. that idea sends chills down my spine! i'm not sure if i want to go soft or bright with the pink (maybe both?), but i love the idea. i guess i'll see what works with the green prints best.

i have ordered the ruby + bee "lemonade" yardage (twice, accidentally). when i get home i'll see how i feel about all this and hopefully get started on something fun. maybe more than one idea!

i've also ordered bundles of denyse's two latest collections, "pretty things" and "bonny." can't wait to dream up ideas for them, too.

blogging sidenote: i'm starting a little series of posts for ideas i have percolating in my head called "inspired." this is post number one in the collection. i may never actually make all or any of these quilts, but i like to explore the ideas. maybe someone else will be inspired, too.