I'll take you and you and maybe no...

Today a friend of mine and I trotted off to our not so Local Quilt Shop, it is self proclaimed the biggest quilt shop in Florida.  This made my third trip there, and would you believe until today I'd never purchased fabric there before?  After going through the entire front of the store and all the way to the back I found one of the background fabrics I'll be using on the Dresden plate quilt.  I would have found it sooner but it was in the back most corner of the Christmas fabrics.

Creamy Golden Fabric with Silver Leaves

The fabric is a creamy golden blender with silver leaves printed on it.  See how they catch the sunlight?  I will be using this both for my circle centers but also for the 9 center most Dresden Plate background blocks.  What does that mean I'll use for the other background?  Well I'm not quite sure.  I nearly had a good match a couple of times, but each time it was a hit and a miss.

Quilt Layout showing 9 center blocks

I had planned on coming home going online and seeing what if anything I could find in a similar family and that's when I discovered there is nothing printed on the selvage edge!  Seriously nothing more than the color match dots!  I really wish I'd noticed that before so I could have checked the fabric's bolt label while I was there.  So if you recognize it please let me know.  It's Hoffman Cream Pearl Style #E889-33P.

Blue Dresden Plate on Creamy Background

On a different note I found the perfect matching silk thread to use for appliquéing the center circles so that at least is a home run.  I now have plenty to sew.  My poor dear husband - he doesn't know how fast I'll be putting him to work making my circle template!

The Magic Bag

This morning when I woke up I knew it would be the day I would start sewing my Dresden Plate Blades together and I was nervous.  Cutting each of those blades, sewing them, flipping them and ironing them while fun was a lot of work. Sewing them together meant a big giant step towards my Dresden Dream.

The Real Magic Bag

First things first I sat down with my blades and my five year old.  All projects should be approached with a young person nearby.  They make everything fun.  So I sorted my fabrics.  Some I had enough that each plate would have a blade of that color and others I had one or two extra and so on.  I put all the ones that I didn't have enough to be in each block in front of my daughter.  All the others went in front of me.  I counted one of each print into a pile and she added to it from her piles to make the required 16.  It was great having the company and it made an otherwise tedious job a joy.  After this I was abandoned to my sewing for a movie involving some princess or another.

Glup!  It was really time to sew.  I have a driving need to have patterns and find it very hard to add randomness to my quilts.  So I grabbed a paper bag in went the blades for one plate.  Add a good shake and sew together whatever comes out.
  

That had my helper back by my side quicker than I could say Magic Bag!  With dd by my side I opened the first plate the results left me amazed.  I don't know if it's good manners for a quilting blogger to toot their own horn but I think this quilt could very well turn out to be the best quilt I've made to date.  The fabrics go together beautifully and I'm so glad I went back through yesterday and added some of the blue shades I'd past over earlier for the really complete the blue spectrum.  I sat and sewed all 15 plates that I need for the project and then when I was done I had enough blades leftover to make one last plate and I sat there for the entire afternoon and sewed them all.

16 Blue Dresden Plates

Now you'd think I'd have gotten over my fear of this project by now, but nope guess not.  Because then it was time to iron them.  Bleck.  My neighbor told me a handful of days ago that she loves ironing.  She even told me I could bring her my fabric when it needed ironing and she would iron it for me.  There's nothing like looking at an non-ironed Dresden Plate to make you want to give it to someone else - anyone else.  Why?  Well because once you set the seams that's it.  If something is out of whack the entire plate will be Katty Whompus.  

At that point I was glad to have the "spare plate" to iron, after all if I mess that up I can still bed someone else to iron the "real ones" for me.  Well let me tell you ironing a plate isn't worth the fear.  I knew the key from watching it on a sewing show 6 or 10 months ago.  Press all seams the same way.  Just glide the iron in a round about way. Then I flipped it over checked my measurements two ways (yes I could have checked it 8 ways but why?) pressed a bit more and then the first one was done.  It looked even better than before I'd ironed it.  Oh the joy of knowing I didn't ruin it!  

My Blue 16" Dresdens Destined for 18" blocks 

So now my fear is gone and I'm left with a question.  I'd intended on using a traditional plain neutral fabric for the background, but the blues are so pretty and the plates are so contemporary that I have started to wonder:  Should the background be a different color?  A hand dyed?  A print?  Surely not blue or green, but then what?  A white on white?  A black on black perhaps?  For that matter what about dark chocolate brown?  

When my husband saw them he said something nice and then said "what about the centers?"  So I ask you, what about the centers?  No one said I had to applique circles, I could applique hearts instead, nearly anything would fit over that small hole.  And what color should it be?  Some of the blades are detailed with gold so I was thinking a nice gold might look very rich and lavish...  I guess that's more than one question.  Do you hold any answers?

Now that's my Quilt!

248 Blue Dresden Plate Blades

Today I finished cutting and sewing all of the Dresden Plate Blades that I need for the Dresden Quilt.  I even went back through my much picked over blue fabrics and found some more that I could use.  The pattern calls for 208 blades, but somewhere; I don't recall where I saw an adorable Dresden pillow that will look awesome on the bed with this quilt so I just had to cut more blades.  With the pillow I needed 240 and I cut 248 so I'm good to start sorting and planning.  I just love this quilt.  I've always approached the traditional patterns such as Double Wedding Ring, Grandmother's Fan, and the Dresden Plate all with the same slight trepidation mixed with a bit of longing.  After all who wouldn't want to touch one of those quilts and say "I made this."  It's concept of actually making it that is the daunting part.

So far the blades have been fun, even though cutting fabric has never been my favorite part of quilt making.  Upon request DH made my plastic template for me.  With it I can cut 8" strips flip it back and forth a bit and be done in no time.  Then it was off to the sewing machine to finish the flat ends into points and once you figure out what they're saying to do that goes nice and fast too.  The pressing is a little tedious because ideally the seam on the back of the point should be preciously in line with the center of the blade but after a bit of finagling I determined eyes are making it - eyes can judge just how centered my points are which helped tremendously.

Oh the joy of moving on to the next step.  I'm once again a little concerned about sewing in circles but if I don't think about it I'm certain I'll do just fine.  Do you have a project that just seems to go your way?  Each time I work on the Dresden Blades I'm amazed at how natural it is.

Lollipop Quilt Binding

No need to worry before I dug into my Dresden Blades I added the binding to the Lollipop Quilt so that one is all nice and finished.  The green binding really looks great.  I'm thrilled this green was included in the kit.  I even like the way the green looks on the back finishing off the poppies.  Oh what fun.

Baby Quilt from Lollipop Quilt Kit

Seam Ripping is Good for the Soul

Drat

At least that's what I'm telling myself today.


I was thinking I wanted ribbons when I started quilting the outer border, huge twisting ribbons, and that look never seemed to happen.  I told myself if I kept quilting it will start to look better.  Do you believe that to be true?  I did find that they started to look more how I wanted them but I also discovered that I didn't like that look after all.  So I picked out the stitches for about 3 hours.

Surprisingly thought I was able to add spiral wave quilting all over the final border in about an hour once it was all said and done.  How's that for making it up?  I tucked in all the remaining threads from this round of quilting into the quilt at the bus stop so that just leaves the binding, Yippie.

Small and Large Border Quilting

So how did it quilt up?  Sue recommended echos around the flowers which I thought was perfect so those ripple to the brown and green border.  I quilted lollipops on that one.  Little Swirls with sticks seemed like the perfect choice.  Then the red border.  The bottom has plant life of different variations.  The sides both have an orchid then a butterfly, a Black Eyed Susan, which is topped with what else but lollipops of course!  Last but not least the top is sky quilted with thin wispy clouds. 

Awaiting Binding

The entire quilt has a delightful puffy "come love me" look about it and DD's trying to stake it out.  The yoyos I quilted on by stitching a star burst over the top of each one, which adds to the puffy 3-D texture while still leaving most of the petal edges free.

Please?

Darling Details

I finished the free motion quilt along quilt!  Binding and everything!  I stalled out a little because I made my quilt a bit bigger so although I did everything I was supposed to (and surprisingly the right amount of everything) I had extra quilting space on the quilt.  First I experimented with some seashells and more variations on waves, but then I did this interlaced wavy quilting which turned out really great and from there I added a heart vine to one of the edges which was much easier than it sounds and after a tiny strip of loops it was all done.  For the binding I selected a baby blue which picks out highlights in both the front and the back of the quilt.  There is so much pink on this little quilt that I love how the blue mellows everything just a little bit.

After that I basted the lollipop quilt.  This had so many small pieces that after painstakingly hand sewing on many of the first flowers I went ahead and merely pinned them on.  Then I spray basted the entire quilt.  I tackled the stems first because I knew exactly how I wanted them quilted and now the flower head yo yos are waiting for me.  After a bit of sketching I think I know how I quilt them as well.  The only question remains what colors to quilt them all!

I'm so proud of my stems why not click on them to see them in more detail?  I haven't tucked in the strings yet, but I'll get to that after I stitch the flowers.

More Than Words

It's been a while since we had outside play time with Sunny but earlier today was so nice that I grabbed his leash, DD's hand, and the camera.  After all there's always something to photograph outside.

My darlings

Best Buds

The Grass Tastes like Roughage!

I have to look intent or she take me back inside.

On Top of the World

Look at those brown eyes!  With eyes like those you'd never guess that dozens of people raved about her light eyes when she was small.  Nor would you believe she had blue eyes her first two years of life, followed by a year of hazel.  We didn't even meet the Amber Pools until she was three, and even now I think they get darker every day, resembling something like dark chocolate now.

I am loved.

Happy New Year! Lollipop

My daughter and I have just been loving this carefree time off.  Be it computer games, Play-doh, or Barbies we've enjoyed all of Jessica's new things.

I started on the Moda Lollipop Kit that I won from Sue's Christmas Quilt-A-long, the sponsor of the kit was Sharon at Daisy Quilting Cottage.  I did really good following the directions for about a hour.  Sorting check, piecing check.  Red Border...  Oh! 

Green Dots are the binding and the yellow is the backing

The kit calls for a 2" border, but they give you enough fabric to make a 9" and I thought this little ditty was to small anyway so I made it a 5" border as it allowed me to use some of the extra charms for the corner stones.  I plan to applique these cute little yo-yos I made to the corners like as you can see below.  After I attached my red border it occurred to me I could make the entire thing even bigger by using the neutral polka dot fabric which seemed to be intended for the backing as yet another border.  So I added that too.

Lollipop Quilt Corner Detail

The kit came with these adorable buttons but buttons are a choking hazard on a baby quilt not to mention uncomfortable to lay on so I had to switch up the applique flowers.  Instead I look all the circles I'd cut to make petals and stitched them into yo-yos instead.  The little bag the kit came in is perfect for holding all of the odds and ends I needed for sewing the yo-yos. 

Yo-Yos

I'm planning on making some sort of lollipop floral applique to go over the patchwork middle, but I'll have to play around with the pieces before I figure out what to do with that.

Not sure what happened with this picture, but these are the lounge pants I made for my brothers the one on the left is a delightful evergreen tree and reindeer print and the one on the left is a super soft salamander and gecko print and just to keep the present shakers guessing one had two boxes of Junior Mints inside and the other had two packages of Skittles.  Not certain who's hairy armpit made the left most edge of this photo but I'm certain they're wishing they kept that thing down while I was snapping pictures!

How did the holiday season treat you?  Plenty of happiness to go around I hope!  Please feel free to drop me a note and let me know.  Or at least vent a little bit; no sense holding it all in.