Debbie Beaves’ Serendipitous Sunflower

Debbie Beaves has a refreshing floral line for RJR called Serendipity Sunflowers. Today she describes a road trip that inspired her cheery designs!

It all began on a trip my sister and business partner Pat Day and I took to the fresh lavender fields in Sequim, Washington. As we drove into the Sequim valley you could smell the lavender from the road. What a sensation! One of the farms had an unexpected, one might say serendipitous single sunflower growing here and there within the lush fields of lavender. Thus began the new collection I designed for RJR fabrics, Serendipity Sunflowers.

I softened the sunflower from a burnt orange and bright yellow to a more mellow yellow, buttery yellow. The popular and easy to use lavender, yellow and green color palette was awesome to work with. I thought of all areas of a quilt a quilter may need to fill with my new designs. My love of antique quilts drew me to design a little shirting print with sprigs of lavender and sunflower heads. The tossed nature of the Lavender Sprigs print reminds me of the gathering of fresh lavender in the fields. The Fresh Linen print was incorporated to reflect the use of lavender to scent linen closets. The Floral Stripe portrays the lavender as it grows in straight rows in the field.As I frequently do, I have the incorporated the shirting print into the background of the stripe. When the natural shirting is used as a background in pieced or appliquéd blocks they will transition into long border strips of the stripe. This creates a smooth flow of design. I hope you enjoy slicing into these uniquely natural style prints as much as I enjoyed designing them for you.

I live in Vancouver, Washington with my two little dogs Teddy Bear (a pommeroodle) and Bella (a long hair 4.8 pound Chihuahua). My daughter Amy is getting married in August and my daughter Liz in November of this year so things around here are pretty hectic. I have found time to design more fabric however. My next line is Bella Rosa (September delivery). Bella because this line is full of miniature roses and Bella is a miniature doggie. No dogs images in the fabric though…this is a name sake only situation!

Till next time,
Debbie Beaves

P.S. We’ve received a few questions about our Jolly Scramble contest rules in our last post. This contest is open to everyone, and we will only take entries until midnight (Central time) on Monday, 8/27. Hurry and tell your friends, there are only four days left!