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.
