Hibiscus and Porcelain Workshop

I had the pleasure of teaching my Hibiscus and Porcelain Workshop at the Sew Sunsational 2009 Retreat in Cocoa, Florida this past Friday.

Here I am in the centre under the Hibiscus and Porcelain quilt with some of the class members.

The Holiday Inn Select hotel that the retreat was held in. I ate lunch under the palm trees on Friday - what a treat!

This retreat lasts a full week, with 5 classes per day (some were 2 day classes). The host shop, Ultimate Sewing Place from Titusville, sets up a mini quilt store in one of the rooms. The retreat begins with a lunch lecture on Sunday, and events are held each evening during the week.

This was the 5th annual Sew Sunsational retreat. I highly recommend it for a welcome break in cold January!

Hibiscus and Porcelain

Hibiscus and Porcelain is my newest design, created especially for the Sew Sunsational 2009 retreat that I am teaching at this Friday in Cocoa, Florida.

My friends Jean and Wayne Boyd shared photographs with me of their brilliant pink hibiscus from the summer of 2008. With their permission, I used them to design the flowers for this quilt. I also have a passion for blue and white porcelain ginger jars, and included them for fun. The borders seemed to need a bit of brightness, so I added 4 Orange-Barred Sulphur Butterflies to pick up the colours in the Hibiscus pistils.

I've added many bead embellishments, hand embroidery and a decorative button to this quilt. It measures 32" square and was designed to be used either as a wall quilt or a table topper.

I'm not releasing this pattern for general sale at the moment. It will be available as a one day workshop only. I'll also be teaching this workshop for Cock-A-Doodle Quilts; a shop in Toronto, Ontario on April 8th.