During a mini burst of energy yesterday I decided the studio need a quick cleanup. It didn't take long to get side tracked when emptying my scrap bucket that sits on the cutting table. Quilters have the prettiest trash, don't we? There must be something to do with them. Out of the trash they came. Now what can to do with them?....HMM...an epiphany! And within just a few minutes these adorable little cloths pins were made.
During the studio clean up the decision was made to take the En Provence off the design wall for a few days. To be quite honest I'm tired of the mess it has created. For all you Bonnie lovers, it's still in plain view, folded up nice and neat and sitting on my desk. I WILL FINISH THIS THING IF IT KILLS ME! But for now there's other things that need to be done. At the beginning of the month I decided to take some time off from designing quilts in order work out of my comfort zone. This years plan is to do a few BOM's and quilt-a-longs.
The first Free BOM on the list is Quilt Doodle Designs 2017 Traditional Mystery. As you can see it's a Dresden quilt pattern and I love Dresden's. The mystery in this quilt is what will be appliqued in the Dresden's. By the looks of the quilt design I'm thinking there might be a tad more applique throughout the quilt. The great thing about this mystery quilt is you can work ahead by making all the Dresden blocks. Then just add the free center applique at the start of each month. If your interested in joining in or collecting the free patterns click here and here. Now let me warn you the pattern is only free for the month it is released. When the new clue comes out the previous months pattern is no longer free. So get now, it's only free for another week.
Now that the studio is somewhat clean I can start making Dresden's. This Dresden block calls for 16 blades. The Dresden ruler I own makes 20 blades per block. By using the template provided I made my own ruler from Plexi-glass. I've discussed this several time here on my blog. You can read more about making your own templates here, here, here and here.
Okay lets pick the fabrics. This is one of favorite things about quilting...Petting the fabric! I've been waiting for just the right project for Lori Holt's Calico Days FQ Bundle. This line is so sweet, the little cherry prints are my favorite.
While this line of fabric is absolutely stunning on it's own I wanted a few more prints just so it could be scrappier. Can you spy the 8 fabric additions that aren't Lori Holt? If not that means I chose well.
Let the pressing and cutting begin!
One Dresden down, 11 more to go. Cindy's pattern suggests we do some curved piecing to add the center. Well you know me and curved piecing don't get along. Appliqueing the center circle to the block is the method I'll be using. I contacted Cindy asking permission to share my technique for changing her pattern. She graciously gave me permission to share my technique and tutorial with you. So as soon as I can get a tutorial ready I'll show you how not to do curved piecing.
See you soon!
~ Lea Anne ~
If I was not so far behind on projects I would join this BOM, I'll have to enjoy it through you!
ReplyDeleteI must say, I have spoken these very words myself......I WILL FINISH THIS THING IF IT KILLS ME! ....however I still have many UFOs and I'm still kicking....Grin.
ReplyDeleteooh, nice pattern... very tempting. thank you for sharing
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely collection of fabrics ypou are using fo this BOM. Pegs look so good with the fabric on, we all have masses of scraps and even when I have used some the collection does not seem to get any smaller
ReplyDeleteI'm doing that BOM as well. All that's left for January is the hand embroidery stitches. It was an easy decision since I adore Dresdens. However, I must not be very good at attaching the circle to the blades. After two unsuccessful tries of it not laying flat, I made another circle, increasing the diameter. That fixed my problem.
ReplyDeleteHey I am loving your cutting table!! Beautiful dresdens you have happening! And those clothespins are awesome!!
ReplyDeleteLove your little clips. What a good idea. You could make a set as a hostess gift. We've used wooden clothes pins for snack clips for years... I've gotta dress them up now. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm down to such small snips I use them to fill a one yard square piece of fur fabric (or corduroy works good too) for floor pillows. They are nicely heavy. I made a set years ago, and my granddaughter liked them so well... she took them home with her.
Hugs
Beautiful choice of fabrics Lea Anne! Those dresdens will be awesome - thanks for sharing them on Midweek Makers
ReplyDeleteSo I'm not the only one to pull scraps back out of the trash can because they are just too beautiful to pass up again. Such a cute idea to add them to the clothes pins. btw, thanks for dropping by and leaving the hilarious scissors story. I can really relate to the football guy in the house.
ReplyDeletePretty fabrics! You OK sweetie?
ReplyDeleteYou picked a great set of patterns for this project. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.
ReplyDelete