Dresden Plate Quilt, My Life

Desperately Sewing Dresdens, Lol!

When I woke early this morning I decided I had plenty of time to start a new quilt & quite possibly even finish it in time for my photographer to photograph it along with my other new quilts later this week…….um…sure!

So, I got to cutting and sewing and before long I had this pile of petals.

 Next I started trimming…

A while back I decided I could quickly cut my string apart with my rotary cutter

as long as I was careful!

And, if I could do that why not also trim the seam allowance???

Sure!

I quickly had a tray of sewn petals and a pile of pretty little corners.

Insert a pause here while we went to church

& ran a few errands then I was right back at it.

Life is changing now that the kids are growing up…

I have more & more time to myself

and it’s nice to be able to fill it with my favorite past time;

QUILTING!!!

Once I pressed the seams,

turned the petals right-side-out,

 & pressed them again I could start making the plates.

Too bad I was too engrossed in my sewing to take a photo of those steps…

Soon I had one third plates sewn & pressed.

Then I had the plates complete & ready to choose the center fabric.

Making just 13 little circles goes quickly.

In case you can’t tell, it’s going to a patriotic quilt & a bonus quilt.

Of course my sewing goes quicker when I pop in a silly movie.

The DVD du jour is Desperately Seeking Susan.

I found it used on Amazon a while back.

It’s funny to see it (or listen anyway) after all these years.

My all-time favorite tune, Into The Groove, is from this movie.

Aren’t you glad to know that tidbit of info about me??

It’s also funny to see Aiden Quinn that I watch now on Elementary so young in this movie.

I didn’t even realize he was in DSS.

Now I guess I’m also showing my age, egad!!!

Anyway…

Here are the plates ready for applique.

And now they’re drying after I wet them to remove the paper templates.

They kind of blend in with my crochet tablecloth, huh?

Don’t worry there’s a piece of glass covering the tablecloth.

Lining up these plates reminds me of how my boss would laugh at me for lining up my m&m’s on my drafting board!

Yup, I used to design office interiors on a drafting table with paper, pencils, parallel bar and lots of triangles & other tools.

That’s a funny memory that I’d forgotten about.

Frequently in the afternoon I’d run down to the the vending machine & get a package of m&m’s for a snack.

I’d empty the package and make a pyramid with rows of each color of m&m’s.

Then I’d eat them row by row.

My brain…

Holy cow, I need to get back to work!

I’ll keep you posted on the quilt progress.

I think there are some Easter m&m’s around here now that I think about it.

Maybe I have time for a pyramid of pastel?

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

Dresden Plates, My Life

How is my Dresden Garden Growing?

Let me just show you how my Dresden garden is growing.

I worked on Tiny Dresden plates all day yesterday.

First, I selected fabrics with Clare’s help.

I then cut a bunch of petals and chain sewed them into strings.

Thanks to Betsy I was able to keep them wrinkle & tangle free until they were all sewn.

Then in front of the TV last night,

after pressing them all to set the seams,

I turned them all right side out.

This morning I awoke with a mission to start making plates!

First I sewed 2 of each matching petal together.

Then gave them a good press to set that seam.

In case you skip this step,

you should know that pressing any seam at this stage

helps to keep it nice & straight.

Also to help me stay organized, I use a wooden cutlery tray keep all of my petals together so I don’t have to go looking for any strays as I move from my machine to the ironing board & back again!

Nothing is worse than losing a petal then having to re-cut and re-sew it to move to the next step…

Here they are all nicely pressed & awaiting the next step.

Next, I sewed two of each pair together.

I love to see the progression, you?

And here is my pretty garden as I get ready to stitch the black centers to each plate.

What are you doing today?

I hope it’s something in your sewing room!

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

My Life, What I'm binding Wednesday

What Are You Binding Wednesday April 12, 2017?

So many quilts & only so much time…

It seems I never have time to work on any personal quilt projects.

Remember me showing you Blake’s graduation quilt progress back in December?

Well, I finished the top in January.

Tamara quilted it for us in February & I got the binding on it right away.

Blake loved the way she put the feathers in the stripes.

Tamara is great at filling in spaces with her awesome quilting.

From the beginning Blake thought it would look neat with tabs on the top.

He helped me design it & they were his idea from the beginning.

I’m not fond of making tabs so I was kind of hoping Blake would like it without them!

What kind of mom am I???

Well, today was finally the day!

I woke & made the tabs.

I unstitched the top of the binding,

sewed the tabs onto the quilt

& tonight I sewed the binding back down.

I can’t wait for him to see it!

Finally a check mark on Blake’s graduation quilt.

What are you binding today???

Just keep sewing…

Susan