Dresden Doilies Finish

Dresden Doilies is done, finally!  I started this quilt July of 2013.  I had no trouble piecing the Dresden blocks, and no trouble machine appliquéing the 16 large blocks, but when the large blocks were connected I had a horrible time machine appliquéing the smaller blocks.  I just could not navigate all that bulk around and through my machine.  I was so unhappy with my machine appliqué effort I decided to hand appliqué the smaller blocks.  Every now and then I would stitch a few blocks down but I wasn't very happy with how they looked either.  Finally I decided this top was too cute not to be quilted and done so I decided to try the machine appliqué again.  My second try was more successful, probably because the blocks were stitched down by hand.  It took 4 days and I felt like I was wresting an elephant, but they're on and they look good, or good enough, lol!

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 136

The pattern is Dresden Doilies by Gerri Robinson and was in the September/October 2011 McCalls Quilting magazine.

It finished at 60" x 60"

It has approximately 971pieces

It's been so long since you've seen it,  I thought you would be interested in seeing the original pattern.  I still like the look of this low volume version but like my happy version too.

So at the beginning of the year I had six UFO's.  Now that I've finished Dresden Doilies  I only have 3 UFO's remaining,

Temecula mini basket sew along,

mini churn dash blocks,

and Clown Pants.

Now that Dresden Doilies is done I think I'm going to start working on Clown Pants.

Miss Rosie Quilt Co Giveaway Recap - I thought you would like to know which MRQ Co patterns were the crowd favorites.  We all agreed on one thing, picking a favorite was a hard decision.
Here are the totals for the Little Bites:
Slice - 27
Whit - 25
Sample - 16
Ort - 13
Trace - 9
Grain - 8
Scintilla - 6
Titch - 5

Here are the totals for the big quilts:
Crop Circles - 22
Seven Letters - 15
Harvey - 12
Double Dutch - 4
Sugarboo - 3
Zoom - 2

Personally I am shocked that Harvey didn't get 153 comments!

Sandy at Textile House won the Little Bites prize package.

Sew Kind of Wonderful Giveaway - I loved reading all about your summer plans, and am downright green with envy over some of the trips you are planning.  But even the few of you who are staying home this summer have home decorating, reorganizing, or cleaning plans, so far I do not, but that is a really good idea.  I still have plenty of time to get a few things done around this house that need to be done, so thanks for the motivation.  Vicky at LA Quilter is the winner of the Quick Curve ruler.

I have one more Market post and giveaway coming, look for it later in the week.

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What's up at my house . . .

Dresden Doilies 

I'm still working on hand appliquéing my dresden blocks to my red background.  I've added the top and bottom outer border since you've seen it last, two side borders left to add.

One of my 2014 goals is to finish my pineapple quilt, this red and white pineapple quilt.  I've decided to  make 10 blocks once a month, in-between projects. That's what I'm working on now.  My goal is 100 blocks, I'm not even halfway there, but 10 blocks a month gets me a finished quilt this year, hopefully before fall!

This is an easy project to start and stop on, all my strips are cut and in project boxes, and I'm paper piecing the blocks, so it's easy to pick up where I left off.

I have made a sample border block.

Instead of having the blocks go out into infinity and beyond, I thought I might like a border, a pieced border, a pieced pineapple border.

So I can go with the block on the left, which is the same block for all of the quilt, or the block on the right, which keeps the pineapple look but gives the quilt a stopping point.  I'm leaning towards the block on the right for my outer border.  I would also need to make 4 special blocks for each corner.

When I blogged about making a year round Toulouse I got several comments about obtaining the pattern.  The pattern is available in the Miss Rosie Online Store.  You can order a paper pattern or an instant download PDF pattern.  I see me making this quilt sooner as opposed to later, like maybe March.  Keep it in mind as you work on your current projects and upcoming project list, maybe we can sew along together!

Click here for pdf pattern link.

Thanks also for your emails and concerns  regarding the goings on at my house.  Yes, I'm blogging less but am fine, we're all fine.  Several of  my blogging buddies have quit blogging altogether, right now I intend to continue to blog, but probably not every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as in the past.  But all is good here!

Happy Sewing!

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Dresden Doilies Update . . . .

Before . . .

And after!

I tried using a simple embroidery hoop for appliquéing my dresden blocks to my top and it's working out great.  I'm careful not to stretch the fabric and blocks already appliquéd, and only leave the hoop on while I'm stitching, not hours on end or overnight.  The center blocks will be the hardest I think because they have the most bulk around them.  I have to admit that each block is getting easier, all I  needed was something I could hold on to.

I plan to add one border at a time, appliqué the blocks, then go on to the next border, again, to cut down on the bulk.  Right now I'm thinking this project won't be a UFO for long.  

Just in case you've forgotten, the pattern is Dresden Doilies by Gerri Robinson and was in the September/October 2011 issue of McCall's Quilting. 

Besides working on this hand project I've been thinking about what I want to work on this year.  I'm going through patterns and pattern books coming up with my list.   I like to have some sort of plan in place, even if it changes as the year progresses, because you know what they say, "a goal without a plan is just a wish"!  I hope to share my action plan with you later this week.  I'm also piecing quilt backs and binding and getting some quilts out the door to quilters.  So there's some quilting activity going on at my house, just not much to show for it, or nothing you would enjoy seeing, right now!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great week!

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A weekend's worth of work

I had a very productive sewing weekend.

Here's another HST block, this time I went with reds.  Even though I don't have a good feel for the overall look of this project, I have decided to make blocks in chunks of color, with the upper right hand section made with a fabric that has a white background.

I'll probably just sew all the blocks together once they're done.  I think I'll go with 9 of these big sections.

The best thing about football season, besides the football, is the time I spend in a chair in front of the TV doing hand work.

This weekend I was able to appliqué all the red centers on my Dresden Doilies medium sized blocks.

All the blocks are done, hopefully I'll start appliquéing the blocks to the red background fabric this week.

Once the dresden blocks were done there was still football on TV so I got out my Clown Pants project box and worked on my red dot blocks.

Just in case you've forgotten, this is Clown Pants.

And finally, I started on this bag.

This bag is in the Fall 2013 issue of Quilts and More.  The pattern is by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  I see bags online all the time and really was never motivated to make one, until now.  I'm not sure if it's the polkadot handles, the fabric, or what.  But I've started my first bag and so far so good.  I'll blog about the details later in the week.

If you like the looks of this bag you can order a kit here.

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Random Sewing and Stuff

I enjoyed my nice long weekend, how about you?

Remember when I got home from Paris, and I wanted to do some sewing but was too tired to come up with a pattern or plan so I made this?

Well I've made another one, no plan, just random sewing.

I do have a plan for these.  These are the medium sized Dresden blocks for my Dresden Doilies project.

I'm not going to start appliquéing any of these blocks to the red background fabric until I have all the red centers on.

I've given a couple a trunk shows this summer and earned a little spending money.  My first instinct was to add the cash to my fabric fund, since I have a limited budget.  But then this caught my eye and I couldn't resist. 

At first, spending $100 on thread seemed a little extravagant, and that would buy a lot of fabric.  But my thread box mainly holds grey, red, black, white and beige thread, so I could use some colorful thread, plus my thread of choice is Aurifil, so splurged on this box of thread.

And once I got this box in the mail, I knew I had made a good choice!

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Next Up

I've pieced all the small Dresden blocks for Dresden Doilies.   I still need to make and appliqué the red centers, they look done because I took this picture of them sitting on my red ottoman!!

These blocks have 14 blades and finish around 4 1/2".

Now it's time to get going on Canasta, for Sinta and Sherri's Schnibbles Sew Along. Eleven days  until the end of the month, I think I'm good, there's not much going on at my house from now until the parade.

I'm making my version of Canasta using Fig Tree fabric.  I have a bin of Fig Tree layer cakes, fat quarters and fat eighths that need to be used.

So I dug through all the fabric and put together over 30 different "perfect" combinations of fabric.  I plan to make the 61 block version of Canasta.

I'm also thinking about changing up the basket pattern a little, maybe making some different baskets instead of 61 baskets exactly alike and exactly like the pattern, shocking, I know!

Times a wastin', I hope you're able to squeeze in this project before the end of the month too!

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Dresden Doilies, a finish of sorts

Block 15

Block 16

All the big dresden doilies blocks are done.

I've got a little more work to do, like 25 small blocks and 16 medium blocks,  I'm eager to see how my big blocks look with less red background fabric showing.  I'm also still sticking with my plan of making the little blocks all out of lights and the medium blocks all out of darks.

Just in case you've forgotten, this is the pattern I'm making, Dresden Doilies by Gerri Robinson.  This pattern was in the September/October 2011 issue of McCall's Quilting.

Have you missed chatting?  I sure have, I'm going back to my normal blogging with comments routine on Monday, I look forward to hearing from you then!

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Even More Dresden Doilies

Block 11

Block 12 - thought I needed more dots!

Twelve blocks down, 4 more to go.

  To give you an idea of size, these blocks are on 9 inch square pieces of red fabric.

I'm not accepting comments for now, but thanks for stopping by, hope you're enjoying my block parade.

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More Dresden Doilies

Block 9

Block 10

I thought I needed more yellow in the group, so here are a couple more yellow blocks to add to the mix.  I love yellow and red, don't you?

I'm not accepting comments for now, but thanks for stopping by, hope you're enjoying my block parade.

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Dresden Doilies, halfway there . . .

Block 7

Block 8

I'm halfway there.

So far I love every block, I couldn't pick a favorite, although that polkadot one puts a smile on face.  Around this point in a project I've usually made at least one questionable block that may or may not get in the final quilt, but not this time.  Maybe I'm getting better at this!

If you're stopping by for the first time in a few days, I'm working on Dresden Doilies, I blogged about the pattern on July 17 if you need to catch up.

I'm not accepting comments for now, but thanks for stopping by, hope you're enjoying my block parade.

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Dresden Doilies

Block 5

Block 6

I'm not accepting comments for now, but thanks for stopping by, hope you're enjoying my block parade.

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