Monday, October 22, 2012

SPOTLIGHT: Dawn of "Spring Water Designs"

Hello after a long time away from the SPOTLIGHT feature of the Quiltsy Blog.  Summer is always a bad time for me with family visiting us and spending time outdoors and at the beach.  But, I'm focused on getting back to to a more regular pace of life this Fall.  What better way to kick-off than a new SPOTLIGHT posting of a great quilter?  Let's get to know Dawn of Spring Water Designs!

Jessup, Maryland is where Dawn works her great handmade quilts.  Dawn has had several features in different media outlets, namely on AccuQuilt with a "Winding Ways" quilt tutorial, with the block in contrasting colors:

And her "Cherries Jubilee" quilt she designed and pieced, is featured in the Summer 2012 issue of Fon's & Porter's Easy Quilts!  Dawn wrote a blog post on the feature and this is the look of "Cherries Jubilee" in pinks and browns:

In addition, Dawn keeps her own blog springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com, her own website www.springwaterdesigns.com.  Dawn's Etsy Shop is filled with lovely quilts, home accents, fabric bundles and patterns, among other nice items.  Some of my favorites:




Choice of Sewing / Quilting Machine
Dawn used to quilt on a regular domestic sewing machine, but in Spring 2012, she purchased a "Handi Quilter Sweet 16" sit-down quilting machine, and she hasn't looked back!  The 16" throat space and smooth table surface allows Dawn to sit and quilt her quilts in the way she is used to quilting.   Dawn chose the Handi Quilter because she worked in a quilt shop that sold them.  She was not only familiar with the machine, but also the company and felt the customer service was the best.  Dawn has not been happier with her purchase!  She was so impressed that she became an authorized seller and servicer with her husband.

Favorite Colors
If Dawn were to pick a favorite color, she'd go with yellow. Its always been a color to which she's drawn, whether it be for the color of her rooms in her home, or fabrics to use in her projects.  Lately, Dawn's been favoring combinations of yellow and pink or yellow and gray, although she loves to work with many colors and combinations with white - variety keeps projects fun!

If I could go on vacation......
....Dawn would love to go to Hawai'i one day since Hawai'i is such a different state from the others.  She is just getting to a time in her life when she can travel a little, and she is working on seeing more of the United States. I'd love to get out to Hawaii one day, since that state is so different than any of the others.

Cheers! - Jennifer

My mother and I make up the Olive Street Studio design and sewing team.  I cannot remember my mom NOT sewing or quilting.  Since 2003, we've made chenille and cotton baby quilts, baby gift sets, little girls dresses and skirts, and for a second dimension, reversible tote bags and smaller handbags.  I joined the Quiltsy Team on Etsy in 2010. 
Etsy Shop: Olive Street Studio
Website: Olive Street Studio
Blog: Olive Street Studio on Blogger

4 comments:

Sieberdesigns said...

wonderful to learn about Dawn! Beautiful work!

Kathy Kinsella said...

Great post ... good to hear more about you, Dawn! Great work!

Terry Aske Art Quilts said...

Such a pleasure to learn more about our team member, Dawn. I love the colors in Dawn's pinwheel quilt!

whimbrella said...

Wonderful article. I adore Dawn and her work!