Quilters and other crafters are generous people! I picked up this long, skinny seed packet panel at a quilt guild meeting—someone was cleaning out old projects and brought it to the giveaway table. The panel was about 11 inches wide and 37.5 inches long.
It lay in my fabric stack for several years, while I contemplated how to incorporate it into a project. Finally it challenged me to design a long, skinny quilt and use it as the backing fabric.
That was the beginning of Red Vases, only they didn’t start out red. Originally I was going to recycle a tan lace sweater. You would be able to see green stems behind the lace and it was going to be great!
Only, as you can see, it wasn’t very great. It was boring.
I dug out some red and red and white checked knitting left over from another project. (Here, too.) Much better!
Luckily this change of vase didn’t set me back too far, because the wall hanging had to be pieced, quilted, and bound in time for the International Quilt Festival in Chicago in April, and time was growing short.
At the Open Studios event at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, various people joined me in arranging flowers on Red Vases. Our first major decision, unanimously approved, was the choice of Edelweiss over Van Wyk Roses in the little vase.
Patterns for the crocheted Edelweiss and Van Wyk Roses are from Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights.