Hi Everyone!  Thanks for all the nice messages wondering where I’ve been!!  It’s really touching that I was missed!!  I was out of town for a bit in our nations capital soaking up all the culture and history.  If you’ve not made a trip to Washington DC before, I highly recommend it.  It’s an Amazing City!!
 
Now that I’m back and well again, I’m finally catching up on things.  I found this Interesting Contest from Bernina and Pinterest that Struck My Fancy!!  I’ve been working for some time now on my entries and am excited to share with you what I’ve created for this contest!! For more information about this contest, please click on the link below the contest badge.

I have a professional background in Fashion Design, Pattern Making and Textile Design and Drafting.  Although I’ve designed and drafted “Knitted Textiles”, mainly lingerie and bridal laces for an international manufacturer, I’ve never designed “Printed Textiles” or had my own line of fabric.  It’s only been a DREAM up until NOW!!  So when I saw this contest I thought it would be the perfect way to introduce myself in a public setting by sharing some of my own design aesthetic.  I hope if you like the “collection” I present, and will consider supporting my latest endeavor by re pinning to your Pinterest Pages.  It would be helping me get one step closer to one of my Dreams.  Who knows??  Maybe in the future I can host a “Give Away” from my very own Fabric Collection??  Sounds great, doesn’t it??

 
As luck would have it, we arrived in Washington DC as the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival was getting under weigh. Unfortunately, the “Peak Blossoming” was still many days away with all the unexpected cold weather that Washington DC was having.  It didn’t matter to me since there were still plenty of these glorious trees blooming at various locations around the city.  The blossom itself is such a soft delicate flower that come in a variety of shades of pink, white and off white.
These two photos are stock pictures pulled from the Internet since we weren’t able to see them in full bloom while we were visiting.  I did get this next photo that I’ve entitled “Incredible Beauty Among Such Tragedy”.  This is a photo we took at Arlington National Cemetery and it was beautiful.
These blossoms are truly inspiring and I can only imagine how glorious they must be at their peak!  I decided to use them as my inspiration for the fabric collection I’ve submitted for the Bernina and Pinterest Fabric Design Contest.  I did a more stylized version of the actual flower because this is how I chose to interpret the blossoms.  The next photo is a closeup of the actual blossoms.  Isn’t it interesting that they seem to create the illusion of a perfect 5 pointed star in the center of each flower??  So much symbolizing in this wonderful city!!  I can’t help but wonder how that ties in with the history of our Countries Flag, The Stars and Stripes.
The first design I drafted is a combination of large and small blossoms with swirls in the background ending with a border print.  The second is a coordinating print with large and small  blossoms.  I have a fondness for border prints, so it was a no brainer for me to design with border prints in mind. Border prints can expand your creativity by turning them in different directions, mirroring or stacking them.  Lot’s of Possibilities!!  As I was drafting the flowers on the computer, my son asked me if I was going to add a butterfly to my floral design.  In his eyes, if I’m going to design flowers then butterflies need to be there too!!  Kids are so intuitive that it brought tears to my eyes.  He doesn’t know this, but my mother and I loved butterflies!!  It was a special thing between us always.  She’s no longer with us here, so I can’t help but wonder if a little butterfly whispered in his ear?  I choose to think so……
Here are the designs I created for this contest!!  I’m very happy with the end results and love the color combinations.  The first two prints are a little nod to Palm Beach!! I love the way the pink flowers POP on the green background!  Please click on the links below each photo if you would like to repin, write a comment, or like my designs on the Official Pinterest “Bernina and WeAllSew Fabric Contest Board”. Thanks!!
For the second two designs I decided to change the background color to a vibrant blue.  I envisioned the glorious pink Cherry Blossoms against a clear blue sky on a beautiful Spring day.

So there they are!!  My first print designs!!  I hope you will comment and let me know what you think too!!  Thanks for taking the time to look at my latest project.