Here in Southern Oregon, we have had the most glorious autumn this year. Three weeks, going on four, with clear sunny days, cool nights, with heavy fog in the morning. It has been beautiful outdoor weather, in the low 70's, the trees are changing quickly now. We usually have to rake the leaves by Halloween, to keep the walks clear for the trick-or-treaters. Oregon mostly has Big Leaf Maple, and White Oak, the oaks just turn brown, but the maples turn a glowing yellow-gold. The leaves can be as big as 14" across and thickly carpet the ground. We add most of our leaves to top off the vegie garden, to keep the weeds down thru the winter and spring.
The neighborhood has many Japanese maples, and they turn a rich vibrant red. Native dogwood, and hybrid Japanese dogwoods have a deep red/bronze leaf color. We are patiently waiting for the robins to migrate through, and feast on the red pyracantha berries. We were just watching the kids up the street playing in the leaves in the street meridian, lots of sun shining & laughter.
I have made one art quilt with the Big Leaf maple. For my first International challenge "Currency Exchange" I used full size leaves to draw my pattern.
The quilt is 20" square, so you can see the size of the leaves. I used machine curved piecing and my hand dyed fabrics, with some Bali batiks, to make the leaves, and appliqued them to the background. The piece is titled "Standing on the Edge of Change." I don't think the color on the photo is very true, it's a lousy picture, you can't see the different fabrics I used in the leaves. This quilted wall hanging, in the exhibit, toured Japan, New Zealand, and the US, and was in the Tokyo International Show.
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