Skeeter's Family Heirlooms-Dresden Plate

This is the second installment of Skeeters quilts, and this is a favorite of mine. Dresden Plate, an old fashioned, expressive, very welcoming quilt.

It's really is hard to decide if the color of a quilt will flow, this one does quite nicely.

A mixture of cotton candy pink and dark mint green as the focal colors. Skeeter's grandmother spruced up the areas between the plate by adding a pinwheel design which add a charm to this blanket. The Dresden Plate has 12 to 16 pie shaped wedges, depending on the size circle.

The center should be approximately one fifth the size of the outer rim. The center can also be a appliqued piece of fabric or left for the background to be seen as in Skeeter's quilt. Skeeter's grandmother used a every other color pattern which is a excellent choice for a large size Dresden Plate.

Pattern making for the Dresden consist on a 2 fold piece of paper, fold length, then width, draw a 1/4 circle from one edge to another, divide 1/4 equally by 3 or 4 pie wedges, wa-la! Variation on the plate has included a pointed outer edge as in the case of my pillow sham.

A combination of both, one being longer then the other (usually the points longer), can create a flower effect. Once the wedges are stitched together, the plate is appliqued' on the main background. My primer pattern book indicated this is a good quilt for 16 to sixty year old quilters to make! Fun time by all.

Very nice Dresden Plate quilt. C & G Design.

Shadow Appilque'

I'm finished with Madam P's dance flowers, it was a simple project that she will have forever. After the glue was dry on the flower placement, I sewed a running stitch around the outside edges of the flowers. I stitched on the edges of the top flower where they overlapped, and the edges of the overlapped flower.

Once all of my flowers were stitched in place with the running stitch, we chose a decorative thread and whipped around the running stitch, staying on top of the work. Applique' is defined as applied on top. Running stitch with the whip stitch is called "outline stitch"I used gold beading thread for the ladies. I needed something fine so it would show the limbs as limbs.

As you can tell, I beaded each shadow picture.

We fitted Luann to the frame then painted the front side black, two of the flowers fell outside the perimeter of the picture but it worked just the same. We glued the edges down, stretching the fabric as we went. Once the glue dried we fixed the picture inside the frame using long staples and bending them inward to hold the object it place. I signed and dated the back, indicating who it was for, and what it was.

I like the way the sheer fabric gives it movement.

C & G Design.

Dance Flowers

Madam has been taking dance lessons for 5 years now, she is pretty good at jazz, likes the tap but is so-so on ballet. We are fortunate the instructor is a soloist for the Maine State Ballet.

The school has a recital each year, it's a big thing for all the parents as we can't know what the group is studying. Well, four out of the five years a silk flower were put in the dancers buns, the fifth year they wore a lei. I've held onto this mementos, not figuring what to do with them.

A light bulb idea, shadow applique'. I've done it before with silk flowers and monogrammed it with the initials of who I gave the work to. Brilliant! I've always made pillows using the technique but Madam wants a framed picture. She took apart the flowers while I cut out some ballerinas from felt.




This is also a beautiful way to display cut work. Always start with sheer fabric and after the flowers are taken apart, place them in a pattern you like, they can overlap or be separate from one another. I let Madam place her own picture.



Normally I place the flowers between the sheer fabric, pin them and iron but because it's madam and a picture, I had her glue them. Here is what she came up with.


After the flowers dry, I'll place another piece of sheer fabric over the picture and stitch around the flowers. Here's a sneak peek.
Only the shadow knows.......C & G Design.

Pennies

The poor retailer that sold me this table cover was delighted to see it gone. He'd picked it up from three different places in the shop and put it back where it belonged, 3 times that day!
Penny rugs or penny covers, (table and dresser runners)is a very old technique used back in the 1800. The frontier women pined away their time by hand stitching scrap wool pieces together to make this unique room decor, it was while waiting for the husbands to return from the fields and it filled endless hours of stillness.

Most people like the idea of these antique pieces but most people aren't sure it would fit in their homes and I must admit, they work better if you had a fondness for primitives.





There really isn't a shortcut to constructing a penny rug or cover. The appliqued layers are commonly hand applied using the blanket stitch, although I prefer the feather stitch for a better sturdiness.

Modern time reproduction have evolved to include the last motif as a flower, heart, star, or button.

Whatever your icon be sure you like the penny for the penny.







And not for your thoughts. C&G Design.

Strip, block, and appilque' quilting

One of the simplest forms of quilting is strip quilting. It is enjoyable and progresses quite quickly. I recommend it for the beginning quilter, you can't go wrong....

The above photo is a picture of madam's quilt, she choose leopard print for her room because she wanted something to grow into. I started this quilt last fall and I have committed myself to finish it before this fall, since we have moved in the new house it is harder to remain sediment at the sewing machine. Right now she has a duvet that is all one animal print. Strip quilting is basically 4 or 5 color complimentary fabric cut the same inches wide and the same in length, stitched together in columns and cut horizontal for the same size. Get it? If I have 4 colors of my choice cut 2 1/2'' (keeping in mind 1/4'' seam allowance) wide by 4' long each, I stitch them all together in rows. I measure 8'' down the piece and cut squares across the columns, the squares are flipped from one another and sewn together . In theory the strips should measure the same and the seams should be accurate. The finished "block" is ready to be trimmed evenly and all blocks should be measured the same.

In the picture you can see where I took 3, 6 1/2''x 6 1/2'' strips and flipped them the other ways, 3 groups of them then added the solid square with the appliqued dollies. My "block" quilting consist of a finished product measuring 12'' x12''. It took three constructed 12'' x12'' squares to make a row across and four squares going down the quilt, or on the side of the bed. You can see I added a border to my piece. Madams bed is a full size and I want the quilt to hang over so I added the border print. This method of quilting can be laid out so every color runs in a zig-zag pattern diagonal from one corner of the blanket to another but that's another posting. I wanted a less formal pattern with the dollies so I figured each block in a different rotations as long as the dollies weren't to close to one another. Here's the outside row cut and stitched together. Notice the repeat pattern.

This is the additional border after the leopard print border and will also be the border around the pillow covers. I've decided to applique' a larger dollies on the animal print, border it with a narrow strip, and finish the pillow cover with a large print ruffle.

When this piece is done it will be machine quilted around each dollies with a layer of fluffy batting and a solid animal print on the back as I want it to be reversible.

Madam has TWO bed ruffles, one purple and one animal. Her walls are painted purple. I hope she won't decide she wants a crazy motif when she becomes a teenager!

Sleeping in style. C&G Design.

Too sell or not to sell....

Okay.....I recently got my crafts out of storage, guess what I found. A lovely queen size quilt that I made in 1997! I had forgotten about it. The dilemma, do I sell it? At the time I made it I lived in a mobile home. The mobile already had its own fashion as they most always do. It did not match this handmade blanket. Guess what? My new bedroom is wallpapered with tulips and window trim has corners with stenciled tulips....by me. Not too far off.

The navy background is made of a high quality linen, a rare find, it has the fluffiest batting between the layers and the back of the quilt is light blue cotton with the borders being of the same material. My,...torn between two quilts. We purchased a new embroidered quilt at a discount store, it is a beautiful wedding ring blanket and we love it. But,WOW! The one I made matches and,......it is vintage fabric made into the appliqued tulips. I hand embroidered the borders and the quilting between the tulips, not to mention I added the touch of lace on top of the flower baskets.

Alright, the real problem. The tulips are pass along (got from my sister) fabric from my grandmother more than twenty years ago. Nana had cut the baskets and flowers to be pot holders, the baskets were to hold the pot holders and more than likely it was to hang on a hook in her kitchen. I figured that was the project when I found the heat resistant layered fabric cut in the same tulip shape. It explains why every other row is alternating colors (front and back of potholders) on my quilt.

I think for now the beautiful tulips will be on the quilt rack, right along side the handmade quilt from my great grandmother. Too sell or not too sell....

That is the question. C&G Design.

P.S., while talking about flowers and tulips, visit my sister at tinaramsey.blogspot.com for infomation on the lady slipper. Thanks.