Travellin' Pic-Stitch Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Travellin' Pic-Stitch Blog Hop -- my thanks to Laura at Quokka Quilts and Katy at The Littlest Thistle for letting me play along!

While I enjoy sewing, my husband's passion is gardening, and there's nothing he loves more than a visit to one of the many garden spots we have here in Southern California. A few weeks ago we took the girls to the Fullerton Arboretum, and while they had fun inspecting a small grove of fruit trees, I wandered around taking pictures...

Near the Pond

Desert Garden

Turtle By the Waterfall

It was a hard decision, but I finally chose the waterfall, a sight you can see as you cross a little bridge into the park. Look closely at the rock in the middle of the water at the bottom -- there's a turtle sunning himself in the 107 degree heat that plagued us that afternoon. Needless to say, it wasn't a long visit that day...

Here's the color palette generated by the Palette Builder at Play Crafts -- a genius tool, if there ever was one. I love that combination of colors on the right...so restful.

I started out with a pretty large stack of prints, which I narrowed down to a smaller selection, and even one of these got tossed out by the time I was finished.

Katy's Spring Carnival block was the source of my pattern pieces, and after playing around with them for a few days, I came up with this design which I'm calling "Turtle Cove."

I like the way the center of the block suggests the shape of a turtle, and I love the text prints scattered throughout the entire piece. That bird cage at the top is one of my favorites.

A pillow cover seemed like the best place for this block to land, and I put one together a few days ago, after which it was quickly hijacked by my three daughters who insisted that they each get a turn to snuggle with it. Obviously I need to do this more often.

Do stop by Pins and Bobbins to see Chelsea's sweet tea towel design from yesterday, and visit Erin at Missy Mac Creations tomorrow for Donktober madness, this time with a Travellin' Pic-Stitch spin.

You can read up on all the details of the blog hop here, including the list of amazing sponsors who are making all this possible. Remember that you too can join in on the fun if you link up a block of your own on November 30th.

Enjoy your weekend!