My Patchwork Life (me!)
OK, back to me and my love affair with Dresden Plates. It started about 8 years ago when my guild had a workshop to make stack and whack Dresden Plates from a single fabric. I loved the variety of plates we could get from just one fun print, and I made a quilt for my younger sister for her college graduation. I love that when I visit her now, I get to sleep under it. I quilted the words "MY SISTER, MY FRIEND" in the yellow border around the center plate, so that's what the quilt is called.
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| This photo is from back before I added the binding. I really need to get better photos of my quilts! Hand quilted. |
Next, I got excited about plaids and stripes and homespuns, so I made a Plaid Dresden for my twin sister's vacation home in the New Hampshire woods. Unfortunately, that was two years ago and it is still just a top, not a quilt, but it is on the short list for quilts to finish.
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| forgive the wrinkles... |
For this blog hop, I wanted to make several projects. First, a Dresden Plate Color Wheel clock for my office. I fear that I am a bit color challenged - it took me FOREVER to pick out the 12 fabrics for the color wheel. I finally just said ENOUGH and stuck with whatever was on my ironing board at the time. Not perfect, but they would do. I got it stitched down and wouldn't you know, I BROKE the clock that I was going to use! ARGH! But then I found a clock kit in my sewing room (there are benefits to being a hoarder who buys things on sale just in case I'll need them some day), and managed to make a clock anyway. Again, it isn't quite what I had in mind, but it'll do.
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| There are corner tabs on the back to hang it... |
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| ...but for now, I just have it sitting on my mantle in my office. |
Then I found a stack of 5" charm squares of polka dots and stripes that I had pulled out to make something for myself. Aha! A Dresden Plate pillow! I cut out all the pieces and realized there was still quite a bit of each of those charm squares left after those first cuts. I decided to cut baby Dresden pieces from the leftover scraps. They were so cute, I forgot all about the pillow and sewed them together and made a bib, backed with a green knit from a favorite t-shirt that I ruined with a bleach spot the very first time I washed it. It seems every third woman in my life is pregnant so I'll have plenty of options when it comes to giving this away.
Speaking of giving away...I've been trying to straighten things up in my sewing room, and I've come to the conclusion that it just isn't going to look neat until there is less stuff down there. Wanna help me out and take some of it off my hands? I have two things to give away:
1) Victoria Findlay Wolfe's new book, 15 Minutes of Play: Improvisational Quilts - I bought a copy for myself, and then my mom bought me a copy for Christmas. I was tempted to keep both copies - it's that good! - but no, I'll share.
2) Assorted scraps - I have so many beloved scraps that they are overflowing every scrap bin and bag that I have. I've stuffed these into this cute Chinese take-out container.
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| What's inside? |
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| An eclectic mix of scraps of various sizes - fun, fun, fun! |
It's easy to enter to win - leave a comment letting me know which giveaway you'd like to be entered to win, either BOOK or SCRAPS or BOTH. I'll get some computer generated help to choose random winners on February 1. I'll ship anywhere in the world. Until then, enjoy the hop!
