I Almost Forgot...

Floral Fantasy

Last time I told you about our weekend in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake, but I forgot the most important part -- I got a wonderful new book on applique (I know, I don't appliqué yet but I'm thinking that this might just help push me over the edge).











One of our first stops when we land in Niagara is a trip to the Old Niagara Book Shop and this time I found Beautiful Botanicals by Deborah Kemball. I'd stumbled across her work online several months back and was just in awe of her talents so when I saw the book it took about two seconds to figure out that it was coming home with me.

I thought that she was Canadian but it turns out she moved from the UK to Montreal in 2005. Her family seems to travel extensively with her husband's work but it doesn't stop her from creating amazingly beautiful works - not a bad feat for someone who is self taught.

Spring Revival

The book is a treasure trove of spectacular appliqué flowers and designs. When I first saw her work it was because she had made these AMAZING pillows for her sofa - some in a cream background and others on aqua. I couldn't take my eyes off them. Normally I save photos like that for future reference but not that time, and now the closest I can come to finding one is her profile photo on her home page. Take a good look at the pillows that are surrounding her. To die for.











There are several smaller pillows as projects that make it easy to try your hand at different blossoms...

    

...and from a quick glance at her instructions they seem really easy to follow, so maybe there will be an attempt made sooner rather than later. I found this link that will give you more details on the book while I was searching for images of the pillows so you might like to spend some time on.

Since writing this book I think she has started using a lot of rich Oakshott cottons and silk, but the principles seem to stay the same. What I find intriguing is how different the same patterns look on different backgrounds. There really aren't enough hours in the day, are there??!...M