Get Real
Featured on episode on the Carol Duval Show, show 338.

There was a huge positive response from the first quilt. I was astounded at the response to the "real birds" especially the Humming bird. My collection of bird books continued to grow and now contains several on Hummingbirds. In our area, the Anna is most common. I was surprised to learn about all the other colors that adorn hummingbirds. I picked my favorites, and then started to look for the flowers to pair them with. On a trip to Hawaii, I was inspired to add the hibiscus and trumpet vine. I also continued to play with the Fuchsias. The morning glories seemed like the perfect shape to fit the circle for the last pair.

The ribbons also made me think of lovely fresh summer fruit. We are close to Watsonville, the Strawberry capital of California, and the red ribbon just called out ripe juicy strawberries.

I was still having fun with the twisted ribbon concept and had used it as vines and grape stems. I wanted to make a basket and again the ribbons, two twisted together worked wonderfully for me to weave a basket to fill with flowers.

My youngest daughter had decided to study ferns for her science project. We combed the neighborhood looking for different types of ferns. I was impressed and found another use for the 4 and 7mm silk embroidery ribbon. The ferns then needed flowers and vases. The Iceland poppies are prevalent in our neighborhood and quickly found their way into a block. The roses with the ferns is an adaptation from a traditional Baltimore Album quilt.
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I wanted to have a center block that would draw your eye to the center, and then repeat the motif in the border. I loved the center medallion from the first quilt. I decided to use the metallic braid on the border and center. I was enjoying the use of the silk ribbon on a grande scale, and decided to make a flower garland for the center block and border. I did a running stitch for placement and started making flowers, varying the size, color and stiches trying to see how many variables I could come up with.
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I was feeling very brave and decided to write on my quilt. I spent weeks looking for the perfect sentiment. Then it dawned on me - I was so focused on using the ribbon and techniques I had developed to make the flowers and hummingbirds seem as real as possible... the quilt was then christened "Get Real".

I like the simple cross hatch. This time I wanted to make it look like the cross hatch came together in a knot. Using 1/8" tape as the guide I fashioned a knot in each corner leading out to all the cross hatch quilt lines.
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