Sisters

I have 4 sisters; one has passed away (RIP Kellie) and the others live far away from me. The one I am closest to is 18 months younger than me. For privacy sake, I will simply call her Sis.  We get along great (now) and have similar interests, although we have very different personalities. I am the quiet, bookish one, and she is vivacious and outgoing.  When we were in school, she just couldn't get it when it came to sewing for Home Economics. Now, however, she sews a lot of her own clothes, and things for her grandchildren.

On one of my visits back home, I taught her how to make half-square triangles, and showed her different ways to arrange them for making different patterns. I could almost see the light bulb come on over her head. This started Sis to making quilts. All sorts of quilts; table runners, coasters, bed quilts, even a mantle quilt for her son for Christmas.  She sends the large quilts to me for quilting since I have the quilting machine.

So, Sis found a Block of the Month online at Shabby Fabrics.com.  For some reason, it appealed to her, so she promptly enrolled herself and me for this wall quilt. They sent the blocks to her, and she mailed mine to me every month. The final month was February, when they sent the center block, sashing, borders, binding, and finishing instructions.

Here is my center block, all finished.  Sis is jealous; she hasn't even started on her center block. She is so much in love with this quilt design that she is afraid to begin the center for fear she will mess it up. I used the freezer paper method to begin making the applique shapes. I found the freezer paper makes things much easier, particularly with odd shapes

I am currently debating about whether or not to add some simple embroidery, such as a wispy butterfly or dragonfly to mine, just to add an individualized touch. I wonder if Sis is waiting for me to offer to do her center block for her, but I think she will have greater satisfaction if she does it herself.

Quilted Dishes

Okay, I didn't really didn't try to quilt my dinnerware. I picked up a kit for making a dresden plate quilt at our local (Manteca, CA) quilt show. Some of the "petals" were already cut; actually, as I sewed the petals together, I saw that some of them had apparently been sewn and then unsewn. The precut pieces were not enough to complete a quilt, but the kit contained more, uncut fabric from which to finish the blocks.

The quilt I am currently working on uses  1930s prints. Since this is not the color palette I would normally use, it will be a challenge for me to pick background and sashing fabrics to complete the quilt.

According to this article, the Dresden Plate quilt pattern was one of the most popular quilts made during the 1920s and 30s. It was first published in the 20s but not always under the name Dresden Plate. Grandmother's Sunburst, Friendship Ring, Aster, Dahlia and Sunflower are all names used for this pattern.

I'm not in a big hurry to finish it, however, because my quilting frame is out of commission at the moment. I was quilting a quilt for our Philanthropy group last week when I noticed I was having a lot of trouble making the machine go where I wanted. If you look closely at the quilted lines, you might think I was drunk when I did the quilting, the lines are so crooked. Upon investigating the trouble, looking for obstructions or other causes for the trouble, I discovered that the rails upon which the machine carriage rides are cracked. Replacement rails have been ordered, so all should be well soon.