What a shocker right? Me having another UFO dresden quilt. There's something about the dresden quilt block that keeps me coming back for more. This quilt was started in 2017. It was a free block of the month by Quilt Doodle Designs.
I've completed all of the blocks but the last two alternating blocks. I printed one of them back in 2017, now I need to find the last block PDF file on one of my many flash drives. It might be easier to purchase the one block pattern.
If you're interested in this quilt it's now available for purchase in her pattern shop here. Each block can be purchased separately or as a complete quilt pattern.
Most of the fabrics I chose for this quilt are Lori Holt prints but there's a few other prints from other designers mix in with them.
All of the blocks were stored in this 2 gallon zip lock bag just like my other dresden quilt I'm currently working on. When I found these bags I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. Twelve inch blocks fit in them perfectly.
The Sugar and Spice dresden blocks came out of the bag looking perfect. But these blocks have yellowed. I'm not sure if I used a different starch or if maybe one of the fabrics caused the yellowing but I need to fix the problem before assembling them into a quilt top.
To make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me I decided to pull out the bolt of background fabric I was saving for the backing of the quilt. It too was stored in plastic. The plastic bag for the bolt came from a package of batting.
Again, I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture but there is a definite yellowing of the quilt block to the left of the line I added to the image. Luckily I think I know how to remove the yellowing. There's a few products out there made for removing the yellowing of vintage fabrics. However I'm going to try something suggested by Kelly Kline. She works almost exclusively with vintage quilt tops and linens. She suggests ammonia and water, then if needed a product called Retro Clean. You can read more about her process here and here.
Well I'm going to try an ammonia and dawn dish soap overnight soak. Then in the morning I'll rinse the one block and hang to dry in front of a fan. I'll let you know how it goes in tomorrows blog post.
While I'm waiting for the magic to happen in the laundry room I need to come up with a plan for finishing the quilt. The finished layout looks like this. The green vine with nothing on it isn't doing much for me. Not that is bad. You know me, I have a hard time sticking to a pattern.
A few google searches for border ideas and I found a few that have promise. Just how fancy do I want to get? Do I want pieced or applique? There's plenty of fabric left in the project box to do anyone of the borders below. There's also plenty of time to mull over these ideas and look for more if needed.
Maybe a plain border would be nice? 
My word of the year
Sorry to hear about the yellowing of your fabric. Look forward to seeing your soak results, I like the vine with the berries for a border.
ReplyDeleteI finally finished mine. It’s at the long arm quilter now. I added a couple borders to make it bigger. I can’t wait to get it back!!
ReplyDeleteYour Dresdens are so pretty, an applique border will be perfect! Who knows, I might even make a Dresden quilt someday, I do have a kit around here somewhere. Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteYou make such happy quilts! I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteRetroclean is a fantastic product. I've used it
for quite a few years and it's a great product.
I've soaked old linens, old quilts, etc and it's
always performed beautifully.
Perhaps it’s the plastic that’s causing the yellowing. Remember when everyone used to do their photo albums in those sticky page binders with plastic overlay? Yellow photos in a couple years flat. I don’t know the type of plastic you used, but it might be worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilt, Lea Anne! Just wondering if the ammonia and Dawn took out the yellowing in the fabric?
ReplyDeleteGreat colors . It’ll be such a happy quilt. Mine has been a flimsy way to long.
ReplyDelete