I finished the Dresden Plates with string blocks today. You may have noticed the new name of the quilt – Broken Dresden Plates. Bonnie Hunter used pinwheels as a border on her Daylilies quilt, but since I used Dresden Plates it seemed more appropriate to use the broken dishes block instead.

As I mentioned before the Dresden Plates were gifted to me and they are all hand pieced. There is seersucker, lightweight corduroy, and even one blade of knit in with all the cotton fabric.  I really like how this quilt top turned out.

This afternoon I cut the green fabric squares for Easy Street, so I will be ready for the next clue tomorrow morning.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls at Patchwork Times.

Happy New Year

Marlene

I finished the binding on this quilt several days ago, but finally washed and blocked it yesterday.

This quilt measures 57.5″ x 69″.  I used several machine quilting patterns from the book Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters on this quilt.  The outer border was quilted with Pulleys and the dark diamonds with Back & Forth.  The light diamonds are quilted with large flowers.

It doesn’t look like I will get another quilt finished this month, but I am satisfied to have finished three.

The plans for next weekend include Easy Street Clue #6 and finishing the borders for Dresden Plate String quilt top.

Have you started thinking about your quilty goals for 2013?  I have been thinking about mine!

Marlene

Isn’t this the cutest Spidey-Frog fabric you have ever seen?  I had this fabric for 4 or 5 years before I finally decided on a pattern.  The reason that it was in my stash for so long was because I only bought 1/2 yard – what was I thinking?

Last year I made this little quilt top (37″ x 42″) and machined quilted it this last weekend.

It is a little hard to see in the picture, but I quilted a large spider web on the top.

Two quilts completed – two tops to quilt and one mystery quilt top to sew – no problem.

Happy Holidays

Marlene

The second quilt on my to-do list is finished!

This top was completed sometime before 2007, so it is 7 or 8 years old.  I don’t remember the name of the pattern, but it is from an episode of Simply Quilts.  The quilt is 41″ x 54 1/2″.

Here is a close up of the free-form fans that I quilted on this top.  I enjoy the texture that this design gives to the quilt.

If I made this quilt again, I would use more contrast in the fabric selection and probably add a border to make it a bit larger.

I finished the quilting on the third quilt top, and now it is time to put on the binding.

Marlene

The Christmas Pineapple quilt top is complete.

Here is a close-up of one of the mitered corners.  I like how it looks when you use a border print.

I thought that it was going to take me most of November to finish up these last two projects.  December will be spent on the Easy Street mystery quilt and blocks for Sylvia’s Bridal sampler, but that is four weeks off.

So what shall I work on during the rest of November?  First, I think I am going to machine quilt a top from 2004 / 2005.  Then I will start a quilt using the Chopsticks pattern in one of my favorite color waves – red, white and black.

What will you be working on in November?

Marlene

Hello and Happy November!

The 2010 Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt top – Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll – is finished and here it is.

I really like how it turned out and am very pleased with my color choices.  This one will need to go to a long arm quilter to be quilted – probably at the beginning of the new year – because of its size.

It is hard to understand now why it spent two years in a box awaiting final construction when one week of serious sewing finished it. Oh, well I guess this is just one of the mysteries of the universe.

Now I can start gathering the fabric for Bonnie Hunter’s 2012 mystery quilt “Easy Street” next month.  I plan on using the same colors that Bonnie used although the apple green fabric will involve a trip to the quilt store.  There isn’t much of that color in my stash.

The Jason Yenter red and green fabric arrived, so now the Christmas pineapple quilt top is going to be completed.

Marlene

Finished!

This pattern is Winner’s Bouquet by Atkinson Designs.  The pattern includes the templates for cutting out the fabric, but the flower applique was my idea and I like it.  I finished the top February 2009, so it was time to get this quilt completed.

Here is a picture of the quilting motifs on the black fabric – feathers & flowers.

This is the second time that I have quilted feathers, so don’t look too close.  The biggest hint that I have for feathers is to slow down.  The HQ Sweet Sixteen has a speed control, so I set it for 25% for the feathers.  Most machine quilting I do is around 40%.

I am off to put the final border on the Urban Chic quilt top.  Talk to you later.

Marlene

The Alphabet Quilt was a challenge.  At 60″ x 70″ it is the largest quilt top that I have quilted.

One of my favorite things about this quilt is the surprise of the flannel in the middle of the block.

Every time I sit down at my Handi-Quilter, I am glad that I made the plunge and bought it.  It has really increased my machine quilting skills and the number of quilts that I finish myself.

This week also held a surprise – I sold my first quilt through my Etsy store.  This year has expanded my quilting in quite a few different areas and it has been fun!

Marlene

After all the trouble auditioning border fabric, this is what I decided on.  This border focuses the attention on the blocks and really makes them pop.  The quilt is 44 1/2″ square.

The theme of the next project is ” What block have you always wanted to make, but thought it was too hard?”  It is going to be stars with partial seams and we will be starting in January.

I should receive the cone of rainbow King Tut thread tomorrow, so then I can finish quilting the alphabet quilt.  Then I need to get everything ready for the pieced curved class that I will be teaching in October.

Have a great day,

Marlene

The autumn table topper is finished!

The most challenging part of this project was the binding with those weird angles.  But I didn’t give up and now am so happy with it.

While I was hand stitching the binding, I was thinking about my next project – a UFO.  I decided on this one.  The pattern is  Jungle Fever from the May 2008 issue of The Quilter- so that makes this UFO four years old.

Why did I let this become a UFO?  I don’t know – there were only six more blocks to make.

The directions called for circle appliques in the middle of the squares, but that isn’t what I wanted to do.  Instead I machine pieced the circles into the square.  It required some careful sewing and concentration, but the result is worth it.

I do have to admit that the quilt is turning out greener than I initially thought that it would.  To finish this quilt top, I will need to embrace the green.

Here is a close-up of the frog focus fabric.

Aren’t they so cute – peeking out from the leaves?  I have a hard time resisting bug fabric.

Next weekend is Labor Day – a nice long weekend devoted to lots of quilting.

Have a good week.

Marlene