Dresden plates

are such fun to do.  I made my first one a number of years ago as a doll quilt for Miss P.

This was back in 2011.  Miss P is now a freshman in high school and needless to say, doesn't play with American Girl dolls any more.  But I still play with Dresden plates.

Ignore the oval openings in the center; they are really round.  and the blocks are on the back of a couch in my sewing chamber, hence the bit of a backward curve.

I'd forgotten just how much fun they are to do.  The plan is for a 4x4 quilt with a border or two.  My usual lap quilt.  I think the centers will be white and also the background.

Time to watch my Dresden Plate

Look what the Hubs found:

I can hear you saying:  "So what?  It's an old watch.  Big deal!"  Well, it happens to be a big deal.  His Royal Hubserooni has a thing on wind-up watches, and looks for them wherever he goes.  We know they are out there because that's what we used before battery-operated watches.  You'd think they'd be all over the place.  Nope, they're  not.  So, anyhow, he ordered a bunch of watches from Ebay, and this ladies' watch was in the pile.  And it's a wind-up watch and it fits my small wrist.  Every morning I wind it, and then it keeps perfect time all day long.  I rather like it as a retro-watch.  I really want a new, snazzy one, but this one makes me smile at the moment, so I'll use it until I find the perfect watch.

And what are we watching?  OK, looking at?  This!

My first Dresden Plate quilt.  Appliqued by moi, and hand-quilted also by moi.  Not quilted in the ordinary way that hand quilters quilt, just in my method, which is probably wrong, but it worked for me.  I think I might have quilted it a bit too closely, but it's all a learning experience for me.  After many struggles with trying to pull through a knot, and failing and cursing miserably, I played around with one of my old embroidery skills of threading it ahead of my line, taking a tiny back stitch, and then quilting through all the layers.  So, the back is kind of messy, but boy did I learn from it!

I loved the entire process of the hand-work.  I seem to like all the quilting processes with selecting the fabric the most, of course.  I like the machine sewing the least, mostly because straight lines and I don't mix.  I swear I'm going to become a hand patchwork sewer.  Growl.

I truly adored making the Dresden Plate and now want to make many things with it or part of it as the design.  So easy and such fun, and I didn't louse up the machine piecing on it either, which really surprised me.  I backed it with a solid fabric.  Not a good idea because you can see my messy white thread stitches on that deep teal background.  Ick.  Next time I use a print for the back side.  The other thing I did which I won't do again is apply the binding to each side rather than go around the piece.  It was fast, but I made really messes on the back with trying to get the pieces to go together without raw edges showing.  I'll do the regular double binding the next time.  And I really really like to do the hand binding part.  And I think binding clips are fun and adorable.

We are having a nice Chanukah.  Quiet, just the 2 of us.  Light the candles, say the prayers and sing a song or two.  Miss P has taken to calling me a couple of times every day and she brings me up to date with her presents and such.

Projects!

All of a sudden, I have pics to show you.  Moms of grands who are getting Chanukah presents from me, do NOT show your kids.  Or else!  I'm the Gram; I rule.

A pink and white doll quilt for one of the grands.  Moms, you know which grand I mean.  Don't show it to her.

As you can see, it is in progress.  I'm attempting to hand-quilt it.  I have to tell you that half-square triangles are really hard for me, with my wonky cutting and sewing.  I did trim the blocks a bit, and starched the fabric, and that helped a lot.  I think that doing these things in miniature is a lot harder than in full size.  But what do I know?  I'm so new at this that I have very little sense of what is hard and what is easy.  It's all difficult for me.  So?  I like doing it.

A Dresden Plate quilt for the other grand.  You know who she is, too.  The one who is totally done with pink.

Ignore the bad picture-taking.  The light was weird this morning.  I've sewn down the circle, and am now appliqueing the blades.  Then, I'll make my quilt sandwich with batting and some neat backing.  And then, I'll hand quilt.

Knitting news:  Yesterday I blocked the second Petticoat Shawl.  I am not happy with the edging on the first one; but I really don't want to redo it.  It's find for me to wear.  But in this shawl, I made sure I did that center point correctly.  So, now I'm writing up the instructions and will send out to a tester.  When we have it in good order, then I'll sell project packages for it.

Here's the original Petticoat Shawl. I love the color combination, but as you can see, that center spot is not wonderful. I'll wear it anyhow.

And that's the story, Morning Glory.  Off to actually sew a doll outfit.  It's been ages since I was motivated, so I have to grab the moment while I can.

Wall-to-wall books - It was very pleasant to knit, even twice.  I think I have to explore this kind of shawl more.  It's not as lacy as most of mine, but lacy enough and does give a bit of warmth.

scrapperjen - Thanks.

knitting kitty - Hang in there. I've charted only a bit of it. I need an 8-day week.

YES!!!!!

Feast your eyes on this, oh great quilters!  I actually made a Dresden Plate.  Whew. What a relief.  I may do nothing but DPs from now on.

Even the ugly colors don't look too too bad here.  Now onto doing some cute ones for a doll quilt.  I'm thinking that for the little quilt, I might want to make them a bit smaller, maybe from 4" squares.  I don't know.  I can practice on more of these charms.

Now to set it onto a block and sew it down.  What do you think?  I haven't the foggiest idea on how to put in the batting and backing.  All at once?  Gah.  Knitting is so much easier, but I did it.  Happy Dance around the house.

CarolynJean - They're growing on me.  My mother likes olives and browns.  Maybe I'll put it on a creamy piece of fabric.

beebee   - I think it'll become an addiction!

Wall-to-wall books - It's actually much much prettier in real life.  I think I'll keep it and make a little wall hanging out of it.  Or something.

Grace - Thanks.  I do too.  ;-)