Early Spring Flowers

We are well into spring now in Oregon.  Today is one of those days where the sun peaks in and out of wispy cloud drifts, but it's never completely gone.  It's warmth is gentle and we are all anticipating even better days ahead.

The early blooms are almost over.  Just a few tulips are left.  Before we arrived at this middle spring weather, I brought home a bouquet of flowering quince branches.  Their petals ranged from palest pink to a deep salmon pink.  The shape of the petals reminded me of the shape of sea shells.  It had that similar feel of delicacy and strength at the same time.  I loved looking at the way the clumps of flowers were grouped along the branches.  The open spaces in between made the whole arrangement feel very graphic.  The bare parts of the branches were as much a part of the design as the flower buds.  I hope I captured that look in the piece called, what else, Flowering Quince.

I used the raw edge applique method that works so well for me.  The background is an ombre dyed, commercial cotton.  All the branches and flowers are made with silk fabrics.  Even the little stamen in the center of the flowers are pieces of the dark pink silk that had frayed, showing the orange warp threads.   I have to admit I used A LOT of Fray Block product around the raw edges of the pink silks.  Although the branches did not fray at all, the flowers gave me some trouble in that regard.  Since this piece was going to a show at the Japanese Garden in Portland, I quilted the lines of a simple shoji screen behind the branches.