A bit of sewing

Today we had a work day. Stu is back a work, so I decided that today I would go back to work too. I got too much sun at the pool yesterday, so it was a good idea to take it easy on my skin today.

While the kiddos were busy cleaning, organizing their rooms and playing and making a bigger mess than there was to begin with, I worked on my Dresden Plate quilt.



Have you ever been working on something that you wanted so very badly to love, but just couldn't? I was on the verge of trashing this one, when I decided to make a very very simple change and now I LOVE it! I LOVE it so much I can't wait to finish it and start the quilting. Most of this quilt is made with old vintage sheets. Sometime last year I got the vintage sheet bug and bought some fat quarters and charm packs of vintage sheets. Crazy I know, but there is so much charm to them and you know I adore working with old things and making them a bit different but still wonderful (Hell, I have an entire business of making old worn out uniforms into bags). Well, vintage sheets were right up my alley. I horded them for almost a year before cutting into them. When finally I did cut them I had a plan to follow Elizabeth's Dresden Plate Tutorial (she is the writer of the wonderful blog Oh, Fransson ) All I knew was she made it look so easy and I wanted to use my sheets. Well the blocks are so easy to make, but what I was stumped about was the center of the blocks. What was I going to use for the centers? I tried out some prints, and I tired out some solids and I tried out some circles of sheets. For the most part it looked like a circus elephant had vomited all over it. I HATED it. It was so ugly. Well, I did what all quilters do when they are getting ready to move, I packed the blocks up and shoved it in a box. I would think of it from time to time....like when I was driving through the Flint Hills on our way to Texas. But for the most part I had given up on it.

When I got to our new house in San Angelo I decided to give it another chance. I took it out and ripped the horrible purple and green centers right off the 3 blocks I had completed. I had to try something different. So...this is want I did! I made some wee little wedges and put them in the centers with more circles! Oh I am so thrilled with it.

This is what it looked like before the change. Don't you think it is better now? I do. I know the "design floor" is an ugly distractor....but we live in government housing and it is a recession so we are dealing with the carpet.

Oh, just to let you know the other ingredients of this quilt. The first picture in this blog post is a close up of a block made almost entirely of "Dream On" by Urban Chicks. It is a great collection that is not even out yet! How crazy is that? I got it through mysterious channels...."on a dark and foggy night while the wind was howling and wolves were calling to one another I slipped out of my home that smelled of hot blackberry turnovers and encountered a tall dark stranger...." Just kidding nothing so glamorous or cool. I bought it from a friend who had one too many. Seriously? Can you have "one too many" of a fabric that is not even released to the regular population? I can't. The dark background is a charcoal double gauze by Nani Iro that I bought years ago intending to make myself a dress...but I can't make clothes for myself. So it is better off here in a quilt. The light background is a light linen. Oh and there are little sprinkles of Heather Ross's Far Far Away 2 which I think is magnificent.

Here is the second pincushion I made form my Scrappy Pincushion Swap partner. I made a different one, but I have lost it somewhere in the house. I will find it as soon as I mail this one, I am sure but for now the little Aunty Cookie Girls are missing. So my partner will be getting this little number. It is cute, but not the most functional pincushion around.

OK, have a great evening. I am pretty sure we are going back to the pool tomorrow.

Tia