Dresden Chocolates

Earlier this year I found the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild EZ Dresden Challenge while browsing the web looking for Dresden Plate quilts.  I already had Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Dresden ruler sitting in a drawer for months. I picked it up with a 50 per cent off coupon thinking I would someday make a quilt just like Grandma used to make but with 30s reproduction fabrics and muslin and an EZ ruler and rotary cutter and...well, the quilt wouldn't really be just like Grandma used  to make with all those modern conveniences.  So, I went searching for some more modern Dresden Plate ideas and the challenge bug hit me. (I do love a good challenge even if it's a personal journey).

I've been on a kick making lap quilts with fabrics consisting of some of my favorite things. (So far I've finished Hi Ho Cherrio!  celebrating my love of Cherries). I figure someday when I may have to go to a nursing home (heaven forbid) I'll take some of my favorite things with me.   Anyway...one of my very favorite things is Chocolate...chocolate chips, chocolate cookies, chocolate cupcakes, mocha coffee, chocolate candy, chocolate ice cream, strawberries dipped in chocolate...so that's what this quilt is all about...a love of CHOCOLATE.  So, I dug into my stash of chocolates (I don't buy collections of fabrics just hoard the ones that appeal to me), ordered up some Kona Cocoa for a background fabric and started off cutting up chocolates.  I was skeptical that a ruler would make light work of so many pieces, but it really did. Good thing, too, because I knew I would be working massive hours of overtime in July and August so knew I had to work quickly to finish my quilt if I wanted to enter it in the challenge.

I also challenged myself to do some hand quilting. I've seen quilts on blogs quilted with perle cotton #8 and knew that was what I wanted to use. And, since I love variegated threads I purchased some variegated brown for the quilting and a new quilting hoop for my lap (or is it an embroidery hoop?)  also with a 50 per cent off coupon. I bought a few different types of thimbles also but decided building up a callous and using it was easier than using any type of thimble.  Another challenge was quilting during the hottest part of the summer without air conditioning. (No, this old farm house does not have A/C). Unfortunately I didn't sweat off any calories ;-(

Here's some of my imperfect hand quilting up close and personal - the design I quilted between the Dresdens.  There's actually a double row of stitching there but where the dark brown thread starts the stitching blends into the background. And that's all right with me.

So, now my challenge entry is finished and the time to blog about it and link it up has arrived. So, without further ado...I'll force some quilt pictures on you all...

The yellow, turquoise and lime green centers and strips in the border are rather bright for me (even looking through sunglasses). I couldn't decide what to use for the center of the Dresdens and several people suggested using some of the colors that  were in some of the fabrics. Most of the fabrics were pink and brown so I decided to pick up the aqua, yellow and lime green.  It has grown on me now. If I hadn't taken the suggestions from others I probably would have used some drab, darker brown for the centers.  I also made some mini dresden fans for the corners. 

 All Dresdens on deck...

The backing and binding fabrics were on sale too at Connecting Threads. How lucky was that? Now it's all washed and crinkly and ready for my lap this winter.  The only thing missing is the label. I couldn't decide on a name...Dessert Plates, I Spy Chocolate, I Love Chocolate, Pass the Chocolates and other things came into my mind. But I THINK the label will read Dresden Chocolates as the name. But, it's not labeled yet!

Also linking up to Freemotion by the River Tuesday Linky Party. 

A Finish!

Rainbow Dresden Plates

I should call it Fiesta Dinnerware

88 x 88

Hand quilted

Here's the last row on the ground. It's too long for the clothesline. 

This was another Rainbow Scrap Challenge I started a few years ago.  Each month I used scraps in the color of the month to make four Dresdens - 

1. Color of the month

2. Color of the month plus its complement

3. Color of the month plus black/white

4. Color of the month plus white/black

Each was appliqued to a gray background and had a polka dot center surrounded by gray rick rack. 

I hand quilted it with hand quilting thread first about a quarter inch inside each blade of the fans and then I used an old cardboard stencil that looked kind of like a flower or kind of like a Dresden with eight blades, traced it with mechanical pencil and quilted it where the four corners of the blocks meet.  The stitches are a little larger in the Dresdens because I didn't cut away the extra background behind the Dresdens (I was afraid to do so)  and that made for an extra layer of fabric to quilt through.  It also makes for a very heavy quilt but those are needed around here on the beds in the winter. 

True to the scrappy nature of the quilt I used a bit of  leftover binding after I ran out of the 8 gray width of fabric pieces I had prepared for binding.   I never actually measure precisely when I make binding. I just kind of guestimate in my head. In this case I knew if it was 88 on each I would need at least 2 widths of fabric per side so that is why I prepared 8 - 2.5 width of fabric pieces.  I didn't have any gray leftover binding to finish up when I got to the end but had a little piece of solid light blue that worked just fine to fill in the final gap.   And you can't see it very well but I used it for my quilt label.  I rarely label a quilt I keep for myself so this works for me to easily get it done as part of the process. 

This is the back. 

This was goal #1   for    Q2  2017 Finish-A-Long

It involved use of lots of scraps so linking up to:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

It took a month of Sundays to hand quilt so linking up to:

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Work On Three Applique Projects

I've been working on the appliqued fans for my Fan Flower blocks. 

I now have 11 out of 14 fans. 

Free pattern for Fan Flowers at Tilda's World. 

More Fans of a different kind. 

Remember a week or so ago when I asked WITB? What's in the bin? What's in the bag? The bin had some small rose print scraps and the bag had some small valentine/heart prints. 

I was inspired by Linda's (Kokaquilts) Fantales blocks. My largest scraps in the bin and bag were about 3.5 inches in width so I cut some fan blades from those, made a few fans and appliqued them to some 6 inch squares I cut from some larger scraps that were not in the bin or bag.   I then cut some 1.5 inch scraps and added those to two sides of the Fan. I think I am going to take those 1.5 inch strips off. They overwhelm the little Fans. I might try adding some low volume strips but if those don't work I will just not use any sashing. Or I might sew four blocks together to make a Dresden Plate with no sashing and see how the busy sashing strips look between Dresden Plates. 

But now you know a little more about WITB! 

I have a whole bunch of fan blades cut and the tops to the blades sewn so there is no turning back now. 

I need to add some little circles to the body of this Fanciful Flower but otherwise the applique on this 18 inch block is finished. Now I need to make 5 more Fanciful Flowers. I'll be using different blues and oranges for the flower but keep that gold for what the pattern calls "pollen". 

Fanciful Flowers is a Kathy Doughty pattern found in the book Material Obsession. 

And sew on...

 

A New Top! Peacock Feathers

It's a top!

Peacock Feathers

60 x 80

It's made of long skinny tumblers (or champagne flutes?) of peacock fabrics and solids cut with a Dresden ruler. 

Actually, this is made of scraps left over from making a quilt top back in July 2017 called Peacock Fans that is still after all these years in the to-be-quilted pile. 

After that top was finished I sewed up the extra Dresden fan blades into a "Before-I-Forget" strip in September 2017.   Then what did I do? Immediately forgot about it until December 2020. 

In December 2020 I assessed the UFO and decided that I would cut more tumblers/champagne flutes.

In January 2021 I had cut over 700 tumblers/champagne flutes/peacock feathers and put those pieces into the "Some Assembly Required" box.

This month I sewed the pieces together as a sort of leader/ender project while making all my "Roses in December" quilt tops.  I sewed them together randomly (mindless, no-thinking sewing) into pairs then fours then eights and so on. There are 66 pieces in a row and 15 rows.  

Another UFO moved forward to the to-be-quilted pile!

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

 

A Couple Of Applique Projects

Periwinkle (aka Hummingbird aka Arkansas Snowflake) Blocks

9 inch unfinished

I've been making these appliqued blocks with a method I found at Susie's Scraps except I'm using 3.5 inch squares and 9 inch background squares. My backgrounds will all be yellow solids.  I was inspired by a vintage quilt. 

Dresden Fan Blocks

6 inch unfinished

I've also been appliqueing Dresden Fan blocks made from 3.5 inch scraps. I have a little bin and bag of valentine/heart and rose print scraps I want to use up.  I'm not sure I'm in love with these at this point and I don't really know how I'm going to lay them out. For now I'm just using scraps. I'm thinking I might make a spider web quilt with the scraps that are smaller than 3.5 inches. 

Whatever layout I use I think I will probably add a plain white thin sashing between blocks because they are so busy. 

And I'm thinking I will probably end up setting them on point. But who knows at this point. Like I said I'm using up scraps and keeping busy with some hand work for a few minutes each evening. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Feb. 10  - I finished a good book - Rivers of Wrath by Jean Grainger. It is the third in the Cullen's Celtic Cabaret series. And I finished it just in time for the release of the fourth and final (I think) book in the series - The Gem of Ireland's Crown.   I've read a lot of Jean Grainger books. She writes Irish historical fiction. I enjoy reading that genre because all of my paternal ancestors were Irish. 

 

Orange - The Dresden Edition

Orange is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Each month I make 4 Dresden blocks on gray backgrounds. They also have a polka dot center and gray rickrack around the center. The other self-imposed rules:

1. One block of color of the month

2. One block in color of month plus its complement

3. One block in color of the month plus black/white

4. One block in color of the month plus white/black. 

Got scraps?

Use them up and link up each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Color will be changing soon!

Some Assembly Required

Back in December I blogged that I wanted to dig into my skinny strings and make a few quilts.  At that time one of the UFOs I wanted to move forward was a Crossed Block Quilt.  Now I'm happy to say I have made 38 more blocks with my skinny strings (well, I had to use a few fat strings too) and now I have 48 blocks - enough for a nice sized quilt.

The blocks finish at 9.5 inches. 

Now they are going to go into the big "some assembly required" box of complete block sets. 

All month I've been cutting a few "peacock feathers"  (Dresden wedges) to move a UFO forward. 

When I blogged about Peacock Feathers back in December I needed over 700 more pieces.  I've met that goal.

Now Peacock Feathers is also in the "some assembly required" box. 

Last month the "some assembly required" box contained the following block sets: 

 Clarissa (vintage inspired hourglass)

Animal Crackers II

Pastel Roses

Blue Economy Blocks

'30s repro Economy Blocks

Wishing Rings

Wedding Rings

16 Patch

Double X/Snowball (vintage inspired)

Flashes of Brilliance (Sugarloaf Stars)

Dakota Farmer Stars

I've crossed four off of the list because I assembled those tops this month.  

And this month I have added to the box: 

Crossed Quilt

Sunny Lanes

Peacock Feathers

February's OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to assemble at least one top from the list above. 

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Dresden Plates - the Blue Version

Each month I make four Dresdens in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  This month the color is light blue.  I make one with the RSC color plus b/w, one with the RSC color plus w/b, one with the RSC color and it's complement and one in just the RSC color.   All are on gray backgrounds and have gray rick rack around a polka dot center. 

A Quilting Reader's Garden

ScrapHappy Saturday 

And Now There Are Forty-four

I finished the last four versions of green Dresdens.  

I've been making Dresdens each month from scraps during this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I didn't make any green Dresdens in the last dark/bright green month so I've made 8 this month to catch up. 

Each month I made four following these rules:

1. 13 inch gray background (4.5 inch scraps for wedges)

2. polka dot centers surrounded by gray rickrack

3.  one in the color of the month

4. one in the color of the month plus color complement

5. one in color of the month plus b/w

6. one in the color of the month plus w/b.

And now there are forty-four Dresden blocks. I think I'll make five more and lay them out 7 x 7 for a large quilt. 

Got scraps?

Use them up and show us how each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Purple Haze (4.5 edition)

Purple Dresdens

Wedges on the Dresdens are 4.5 inch pieces.   Each month I make 4 Dresdens on gray - one in color of month, one in color of month plus b/w, one in color of the month plus w/b, one in color of month plus its complement.  I add polka dot centers surrounded by gray rick rack.   I use the EZ Dresden ruler to cut my wedges and I applique to the background. 

Purple is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  With my projects this year I've  been starting with the biggest scrap pieces and then worked toward the smallest pieces, strings and crumbs. 

Purple Chevrons 

4.5 HSTs 

Purple HSTs. 

Got Scraps?

Purple ones?

Use them up and show us what you've done each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Some Stuff for Slow Stitching on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday...

Today I finished up the final five of forty-nine Dresdens and need to applique them to the gray background.  I made these all year as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. I will have one big quilt if I ever get it finished. The background squares are 13 inches.  The Dresden spokes are 4.5 inches. 

I'm also behind on getting my circles appliqued to their backgrounds. I have Dec 7 (Kayla's Birthday) through Dec 25 made and ready to have the buttonhole stitching around them completed. I have the fabrics pulled for yesterday and today but no circles made yet.  I may take these to work and work on them during my lunch break. 

And I still have 11 more blocks to quilt on my Vintage Spin.  I just accidentally sliced into the callous on my underneath finger so we shall see if I can still quilt without pain. 

I will be virtually quilting along with other Slow Sunday Stitchers this evening at Kathy's Quilts. 

It's a Flimsy! Peppermint Twist

Peppermint Twist

50 x 62.5

The Peppermint Twist song was released in 1961 - the year I turned 9 years old.  My dad was manager of a cafeteria at that time and the cafeteria had a rec(reation) room with a juke box. Mom would sometimes take us kids in to eat dinner at the cafeteria and afterwards we would wait in the rec room for Dad to get off work.  I remember us dancing around to The Twist and The Peppermint Twist and the employees thought we were so cute. 

The Twist was good exercise. If I still did some twisting today I might be as skinny as my shadow. 

 Who knows when I started this. I found a couple of blocks and the peppermint fabrics in my Christmas project box back in January when I decided I wanted to try to use my holiday fabrics this year.  When I get some kind of what I think is a brilliant idea as to how to use certain fabrics I make a few blocks and put them with the fabrics so I don't forget my brilliant idea. 

I had a little problem finding peppermint go-with fabrics in my stash but managed. That green/red orange checked fabric was in with the Halloween fabrics. 

I made a large Dresden block and squared it off. 

 Now I have 80 pieces from the side trimmings I can play with.  I've sewn some of the pieces together and they measure about 13 inches in the center.  If I can find a suitable background or backgrounds (this one is already taken) I could maybe make large lemon peel blocks. Or they could be leaves on giant Jack in the Beanstalk columns of vines...

...or they could be a giant Peppermint Zinnia. But that kind of hurts my eyes right now. 

And speaking of peppermint...

Has anyone else had to drink peppermint extract (or peppermint if available) dissolved in hot water when you had a stomach ache? That was my dad's cure. I quit telling him when I had a stomach ache.  I don't like the taste of peppermint. 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag