Inspirational Sunday (23) - via the 2013 International Quilt Festival in Long Beach

Today's Inspirational Sunday theme is flowers.  I have been thinking about flowers since March began.  My Lazy Bums group has also chosen it as the theme for this month's UFO project, and don't you know I really had to stretch a bit to find a project that fit the theme.  NOT the case with today's quilts though!  I had plenty of floral themed quilts to choose from.  In fact, I might carry over the theme to next Sunday too.

The first quilt is called "Dyer's Woad (Isatis tinctoria)" by Vivian Milholen of Chantilly, Virginia.  It is machine stitched.

The quilter's statement, "Indirubin, a compound found in the Isatis root, has been shown to be effective in treating myelogenous and other leukemias as well as some lung cancers.  Survivor Tribute: Della Milholen (mother-in-law), Skin Cancer, 2001".

I just love the echo quilting.

The next quilt is called "Zinnia's Three" by Jean Smith of Naples, Florida.  It is fused, pieced and free-motion quilted.  The design source is Melinda Bula's zinnia pattern and class.

She says, "Recently I have been making flower quilts of all kinds.  I took Melinda Bula's zinnia class and was so inspired by her technique that when I got to my quilting studio I created three zinnias in my favorite colors.  After much thought, I put my flowers in matching vases with different background colors.  Now my flowers have a home."

I've taken a class by Melinda Bula and it was amazing!  Her technique is fun and very inspiring.  I can completely relate to wanting to come home and make a bunch of flowers.

The last quilt I want to share today is called "3-D Sunflowers" by Martha DeLeonardis of Katy, Texas.  It is turned edge woven fabric, machine pieced, appliqued and quilted.  The design source was a vintage sunflower block quilt.

"The maker of the original quilt incorporated pleated petals into her pieced blocks, one of the few methods available to her at the time to integrate 3-dimensional effects into a quilt.  I wanted to expand on this idea utilizing products available to quilters today, and bring the 3-dimensional sunflower into the 21st century."

I think my favorite part of this quilt is the radiating black and white print background.

The 3-D effects seem to be very popular.  Have you ever contemplated making a 3-D quilt?

Thanks for reading today,

Jen