Last October the Tri City Quilt Guild hosted Ann Shaw for two classes. Ann is a certified teacher of Ruth P. McDowell’s technique. I signed up to take her one-day class and decided to make the poppy in purple. Then a friend who was also taking the class, mentioned that she would be making a purple poppy! I thought to myself “Well, I can’t make a purple poppy because she will think I copied her.” So, I decided to make a yellow poppy. Before the class, I met with Ann Shaw and other guild members at a local quilt store and bought several new yellow fabrics.
I purchased the pattern and following her instructions transferred the pattern to freezer paper and added the important colored tic marks. I was all set to go to class and be ready to create a yellow poppy! On class day I set up shop along with the other quilters and began to cut the yellow fabrics following the pattern pieces. Nothing seemed to flow so I recut the pieces with a different yellow. And then recut some more and my friends even gave me some of their yellow fabric. I ended the class hopelessly overwhelmed and had a horrible mess to show for it.
I took everything home. The board with the pieces of the yellow poppy was carefully placed into a corner of the sewing room along with the yellow fabrics. I placed the whole mess in time out for several weeks.
Other quilters started showing their finished poppies and I kept thinking about the yellow mess in the corner. Finally, in January I had an epiphany! Why don’t I make a purple poppy, just like I wanted to? I carefully pulled out the yellow mess, took all the yellow fabric off the pattern pieces, folded the yellow fabrics neatly and placed them in my stash. Then I pulled out my two purple bins and got to work. I had so much fun! I was excited, focused and on a roll. Within 2-3 hours I had all the pieces cut and on the wall. It was such a good feeling. Here’s a picture with auditioning backgrounds.
I was so into this quilt I could hardly leave it alone. Those of you that create art know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s as if you are driven to work on the piece of art. The entire time you have a feeling of joy in your heart. I even used one of the yellows a friend gave me for the center. It was perfect.
I found a lovely Dutch batik for the back in my stash. I think I bought the batik in the Caribbean a couple of decades ago. I quilted the poppy with black/grey and white/black variegated thread in an all over one ich grid. I went back and added a purple variegated thread for accent. I bound the quilt in purple and I love it! I used all fabrics from my stash and that felt good.
Oh! And my friend that was going to make the purple poppy? She made an orangey-pink poppy. I learned two important lessons with this quilt besides learning a new piecing technique. One, listen to your inner voice. It knows more than you think. Two, I’m not good creating art in a group environment. In the future when I take classes, I need to remember that I don’t have to leave class with a finished project. Just learning something new to use later is perfectly alright.
If you are interested in making your own Ann Shaw flower, please check out her website at www.annshawquilting.com Ann is a great teacher and her patterns sew together quite easily. Or contact me and I’ll make one for you.
This purple poppy is for sale along with other fun pieces of art. Please contact me via this website.
Take care, geneva