Lavender, Lavender, Lavender!

So for the last month I have basically been eating, sleeping and breathing lavender. Our sample yardage of Lavender Bliss arrived towards the end of April and we were frantically sewing samples for the Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City, Missouri the first few weeks of May. The whole studio smells like lavender- you can’t help but feel calm and relaxed as soon as you head down the stairs.

In the midst of all of this sewing we finished up 4 new sewing patterns and got a lavender project book started that will be available in June. Here is a peak at some of the things we have been making out of Lavender Bliss.

This is one of our new pattern called One + Ten. It takes 1 yard of an allover print that you love and 10 fat quarters. Here we used the large allover scenic from our collection and ten coordinates. This past Christmas I made my dad this quilt for his Man Cave using a car allover and a bunch of brightly colored tonals (including flames of course!). This is such an easy quilt to sew up and it is a perfect size for cuddling up on the couch with.

One + Ten Quilt Pattern in Lavender Bliss

Focus Feature is  another pattern to use an allover print that you can’t bear to cut up. This was perfect way to use the Lavender Bliss scenic allover. We also made this one up in a giant Kaffe Fassett floral with black sashing and it is absolutely stunning! This pattern includes instructions for quilts in 4 sizes (including twin). A great way to really show off your fabric!

Focus Feature Quilt Pattern in Lavender Bliss

~ Michelle

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Inspiration and Lavender Bliss…

A few years ago, we visited the south of France during an European Art Tour I planned around all of the art I studied in college. During our few days in Nice we took a drive determined to find the infamous lavender fields of Provence.

We stopped in a little town for lunch and an adorable French man told us how to get to the “Largest Lavender Fields in France.”He warned us, however, that they were much too far away to go there and back to Nice in one day. Despite his attempts to persuade us not to, we continued on our journey following his directions and our instincts. Thanks to the wonders of GPS, we had absolutely no fear of getting lost- just put the hotel address whenever it was time to head back.

Rows and rows of lavender in Provence, France.

It turned out that these magnificent lavender fields were less than 2 hours way! For Americans who drive almost an hour to work everyday, this is nothing. We turned off the highway and headed into the Provincial country side. We discovered a truly incredible area of France with lavender fields as far as the eye could see.

View of Provence countryside with lavender fields as far as you can see.

It was mid July just before the lavender harvest and the air was filled with the enchanting smell of lavender and the buzz of bees hard and work. After driving around all of the country roads and taking lots of pictures, we decided we better head back to Nice- although it was very hard to leave.

Check out all of the bees in the air and on the sunflower blossoms!

This was one of the highlights of my first trip to Europe and I would highly recommend a drive in Provence to anyone traveling to France. The landscape is truly breathtaking and when you add all the amazing lavender and sunflowers, it is truly an unforgettable experience. We used some of our favorite memories from this trip to help use create our new fabric line, Lavender Bliss. We hope you enjoy!

~Michelle

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