April Showers… Bring Fresh Market Flowers

Spring is definitely here in the Pacific Northwest and it is so exciting to get out in the garden and see all the plants coming to life. This exciting start to the new season has also inspired my Spring sewing. Time to break away from the cozy winter colors and fabrics and dig out the vibrant, exciting colors of Spring.

New Arrival just in time for Spring!

Just in time for Spring sewing, our fabric latest collection, Fresh Market Flowers 2, has arrived from Andover Fabrics. In our first collection of Market Flowers we put together all of our favorites to pick up at the local farmers market or down at Pike Place in Seattle. As a follow-up, we wanted to include the flowers market you can find right in your own backyard. Roses, sunflowers, hydrangeas, peonies and one of our favorites in springtime, magnolias!

Spring in the Northwest with Fresh Market Flowers 2

 

Mix and match your favorite prints to create your own “bouquet.” Perfect for table runners, place mats and other items to enjoy around the house. We have also seen lots of amazing floral fabrics in ready to wear fashion this season- maybe a flirty sundress or gathered skirt will be the perfect addition to your spring wardrobe.

We have also come up with a few great quilt ideas to combine some of these beautiful florals. Our FREE downloadable pattern, Garden Scroll, reminds us of a garden trellis or an English garden laid out in beautiful blocks of color. Inspired by a traditional churn dash quilt block but then we added our own twist to it with the fabric placement.

Garden Stroll Downloadable Quilt Pattern

We also re-imagined our best-selling pattern, Focus Feature, using a selection of the latest Fresh Market Flowers. Perfect sewing project for weekend sewing this Spring.

Our Focus Feature Pattern with Fresh Market Flowers

The possibilities this Spring are endless! We can’t wait to see what you come up with. Now time to get sewing!

Happy Spring!

Michelle

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Lavender Season is here!

Lavender harvest is in full swing this month all across the country (even the world!). It is one of my favorite parts of summer. Fresh cut lavender smells so good and I just can’t get enough. This spring I even started my own lavender hedge around my greenhouse. I can’t wait until it grows in a bit and I have all the lavender I could ever ask for.

Lavender in my garden!

Not only does this wonderful herb smell so incredible, it is my go to cure for those pesky mosquito bites I get when I am out working in the garden in the evening. Just a dab of essential oil and they disappear! I also love having it next to my bed or on my pillow to help me drift off to sleep.

 

In honor of the Lavender season we wanted to share with you our Lavender Bliss: Project Booklet filled with projects that you can make using dried lavender. One of my favorites is this Hanger Cover. It helps protect my clothes while also bringing a bit of freshness to my closet. The booklet includes sachets, pincushions, spa essential and lots more.

Lavender Hanger Cover project included in the project booklet.

We are also excited to announce the arrival of a new lavender print fabric! This is the perfect print for all of those small projects and don’t you just love the color?

Our latest lavender fabric print in purple.

THIS WEEK ONLY! With each Lavender Bliss: Project Booklet ordered we will be including a FREE fat eighth of our latest lavender fabric. Begins 7/21/14 and ends 7/27/14. Visit our website at www.firetraildesigns.com or simply CLICK on the image below.

Lavender Bliss: Project Booklet

P.S. For those of you that don’t have a lavender farm near where you live, we have Dried Organic Lavender Florets on our website so that you don’t miss out! (Certified organic by the Washington State Department of Agriculture)

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Color of Spring and Time in the Garden

I am loving every minute of this Spring in the Pacific Northwest. The garden is in full bloom and all of the colors are just breathtaking. Rhododendrons, azaleas, and tree blossoms galore.

Incredible color on this purple Azalea. Perfect for 2014- the color of the year is Radiant Orchid.

I think everyone is jumping at the chance to get out in the garden every chance they get. We have been getting a day or two of rain and then a couple of days of sun. Perfect weather for getting things done both inside and outside. There are lots of wonderful sprouts peeking out of the ground and the vegetable starts in the greenhouse are really starting to take off.

Zucchini, Pumpkins and Squash… Oh My!

I have been spending way too many evenings surfing Pinterest and my garden board is overflowing with ideas. Now that spring is here and I have been able to put of few of these great ideas into action. First, the Potato Tower I built with some left over chicken wire. It took 2 bags of compost to fill, YIKES! But I think it will produce an amazing potato crop, fingers-crossed.  It hasn’t sprouted yet but I have been reassured by fellow gardeners not to worry.

Pinterest Experiment- the Potato Tower

I also got some AMAZING wine boxes from a friend and have started planting some of my starts and vegetables in them for the Greenhouse. They just look so cool… it has only been a couple of weeks so I will have to let you know how it goes. Again, thank you Pinterest!

Another Pinterest Experiment- Growing in Wine Boxes

I will leave you with this adorable sign that I found at a local nursery, “We are so excited about our garden… we wet our plants!” I am putting this in the Greenhouse, along with this amazing owl, and it totally describes how I am feeling about the garden this spring.

Adorable garden sign for the Greenhouse.

I can’t wait until I can start to enjoy/eat all of the incredible crops.

Happy Growing!

Michelle

P.S. I have been posting a few teasers about some new projects on our Facebook Page. Be sure to “Like” us.

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April Showers Bring… Fresh Market Flowers

The past few days in the Pacific Northwest have been amazing! I spent most of the afternoon yesterday out in the garden preparing the beds and even getting the potatoes and onions planted. I’m hoping to plant my favorite vegetable, peas, today. Last week we also took a trip up to the Skagit Valley to see all of the beautiful daffodils in bloom. Just a few more weeks and the tulips will be up!

Daffodil fields in the Skagit Valley, Washington 2014.

Spring had definitely arrived and so has our latest fabric line with Andover Fabrics, Fresh Market Flowers. Inspired by our local Pike Place Market and the incredible flower markets we visited in Paris, this line includes NINE stunning flower allovers. Tulips, Mums, Irises, and Daisies! It arrived just in time for all of your Spring projects, maybe even a table runner or napkins for your Easter table.

A few of the fabrics included in our Fresh Market Flowers Collection from Andover Fabrics.

This line also includes a PANEL with eight, different flower market scenes. Perfect for a colorful quilt, table runners or other items to use around the house. Each block pairs perfectly with the market allover or wide awning stripe. We have a FREE Downloadable quilt pattern available on our website that uses one panel and a selection of the colorful flowers. I love using the green awning stripe as binding!

Free Downloadable Quilt Pattern for Fresh Market Flowers.

Watch for a fun GIVEAWAY of Fresh Market Flowers coming on the blog. You can also “Like” us on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss out.

Happy Spring!

Michelle

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Spring is here!

Love Spring! Check out all of those amazing colors.

Spring is finally here in the Pacific Northwest. It is finally warm enough to start planting and getting things cleaned up after the winter weather. The tulips are even making an appearance in the Skagit Valley. They were only a couple of weeks late… We took a trip up there last weekend and it is truly an incredible site. Not all of the flowers were quite ready but it was definitely worth the trip.

Beautiful tulips and daffodils.

Between all of the gardening and enjoying the spring blooms we are frantically working on getting things ready for Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City. Can you believe it is less than a month away? Great news is that we should have sample yardage of Lavender Bliss hopefully next week! In the mean time we am finishing up some of the patterns we will be releasing in May. Maybe next week I can give you a little sneak peek : )

Lavender Bliss Production Samples. Don't they look great?!

This week was pretty exciting though. We got the first production samples of Lavender Bliss and they look AMAZING. We are so happy with how they turned out and can’t wait for everyone else to see. The sewing machines are calling for us to get started. Guess I should get back to work. Kansas City here we come!

~Michelle

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