Firewheel Trio

Firewheel Trio

The Firewheel Tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus) is an Australian rainforest tree with stunning ornamental flowers.  The Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella aka Indian Blanket) is also a Texas wildflower which seems very fitting with the our Twelve by Twelve quilts coming up for exhibition at the International Quilt Festival in Houston in November 2011. So take your pick! Either way, I am so pleased to have, at last!, squeezed in a shibori piece in the Colorplay series. 

image by Cas Liber via WikiCommons	image by Susulyka via Wiki Commons

Although I had plenty of orange fabrics in my stash,you can see that I succumbed to the lure of a vermillion and orange dyeing session.  Here's how my design wall looked a week or two ago.

Initially, I was going to hand quilt this piece with orange and chartreuse heavy weight threads. That didn't work and I almost discarded the piece in favour of Pyromania.  However, once I changed to machine quilting with variegated thread, it was no contest.  It seems felicitous to finish off the second series in a way that echoes my very first Twelve by Twelve quilt from November 2007 - Pièce deRésistance.