Tag: Suzn Quilts Little Dresden plates

Dresden Plates, My Life

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you’re able to enjoy this day with your loved ones

& also have plenty to be thankful for!

Please enjoy this delightful, fall, TEENY Tiny Dresden plate at my expense…

It’s probably smaller than you first imagined.

I was right, wasn’t I?

And while I was painfully making this teeniest of Tiny Dresden plates,

I was also feeling bad for how I’d treated some of my fellow Tiny Dresden seamstresses these past few months.

REALLY BAD!

I realize now that being out of your comfort zone is hard!

I’ve made so many Tiny & Mini Dresden plates that I can practically make them in my sleep.

These petals are MUCH (MUCH) SMALLER than I’m used to sewing.

Incredibly cute,

but SO…MUCH…SMALLER…

Hard to grasp.

Hard to turn.

The first one turned out so poorly that I decided to try again.

And again.

The 3rd time I decided to elongate the petals so I would have more fabric to hold onto

while they were going through the machine,

then trim them as needed as I sewed them into the plate.

I also tried trimming the seam allowances,

something that I never do while making Tiny Dresden plates.

It’s just not necessary.

At this point it became necessary to trim the center of the plate (the part that I elongated)

and I wasn’t even sure if it was going to come together at all like it should.

The 3rd plate turned out so much better!

While experimenting, I was reminded of several of my TD students from more than one TD workshop.

We would together get that first plate made,

then they’d usually go back to their space & make the second plate by themselves.

It was fun seeing the excitement on their faces as they became more comfortable with the process,

and do a much better job on their second plate, yay!

I now know your frustration and disappointment at not having the success as anticipated.

But with a bit of perseverance,

& the right tools…

thanks to Rosa & her Apliquick Bars,

my 1/2″ diameter center is perfectly round with no trouble at all!

I was finally able to fill this adorable little acorn frame that’s been hanging empty

in my sewing room for more than a decade!

Now I have a new fall decoration, something to display for years to come.

This makes my heart sing.

I hope I’ve inspired you to maybe do something a bit out of your comfort zone too.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

Dresden Plate Quilt, My Life

Desperately Sewing Dresdens, Lol!

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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 Plate Quilt, Mini Dresden Patterns, My Life, New Quilt pattern sample, New tiny Dresden plate quilts, Quilt Retreats

Retreating Again

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It’s always fun to get away to sew (& eat)!

And sew I did, all weekend long…

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I got a lot done on my new pattern sample.

I sewed the Tiny Dresden petals that I showed you last week.

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Trimming and then pressing.

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Turning right side out and making pretty points.

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All 384 of them!

And, not 1 was lost since I was using my new cutlery tray

to transport them back & forth to the ironing board and my sewing machine.

I had made the Mini Dresden centers last week.

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Roxanne’s EZ-Squeeze glue, my Classic Metal Company brochure,

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and Appliquick Bar give me very precise results every single time.

I also had 4 half (+ seam allowance) circles to made for the 4 half Mini Dresden blocks.

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Same process, but you don’t have to cover the long straight edge

since it will go inside the seam allowance when it’s sewn into the quilt.

Fun, fun, fun!!!

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32 Tiny Dresden plates

5 Mini Dresden plates

4 half Mini Dresden plates

32 freezer paper leaves

&

8 stems

(but I needed 16… 4 x 4 =16, not 8!!!)

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Each 23″ block has 1 Mini Dresden plate,

8 Tiny Dresden plates,

8 leaves & 4 stems.

 I got 3 of the 4 big blocks appliqued before we left Sunday,

but you’ll have to wait to see those, sorry.

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This is all that’s left of the pieces.

Can’t wait to finish it.

It’s been a whole month since Christmas.

What are you creating?

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan