Dresden Plate - Full View

I took the quilt outside for a picture this afternoon.  It was a very bright day so it was hard to see the images.  I am so glad it is done, I may even decide to use it on my bed.

A close up of one of the applique motifs.

The backing fabric. 

Chilly in North Carolina

Fountain at Wendell United Methodist

Last month a new fountain was installed in our courtyard to honor the service of our Director of Children's Programs.   The fountain this morning!  However by lunchtime it was almost completely thawed.  The Relay for Life team held a Baked Potato Bar Lunch fundraiser so this afternoon was free. 

I finished sewing the binding on my Dresden Plate quilt so it is now officially done.  Perhaps I'll be able to get a full picture of it tomorrow.

More Quilting

I can't believe that I used a full spool of the white Aurifil 50/2 thread before I even started the borders. Thanks to Sally and Connie for picking up more in Goldsboro for me.  All the stops and starts in addition to the size of the quilt I guess.

I have finished the quilting and put on a pink binding.  One side is hand sewn  - I had planned to have it finished by today but I hate to sew bindings!

 

Friday I made backings and bindings for the 6 finished quilt tops I had on hand.  Saturday I layered the four smaller ones here at home.  I'll take the two larger ones to church one day and use the big tables for them.

Today I quilted these two small quilts that will be donated at Raleigh Quilters Guild for Wheelchair quilts.  They were made from blocks I received in block exchange in 1996. I was a member of the Three Rivers Quilt Guild in Albemarle NC.  I finished the binding by machine on these.  I loved looking at the blocks and remembering the gals who made them. 

This is the window in Pauline's house block.  Notice the little lace curtains at the side.

Donna's window has a pleated lace curtain.  I hope someone will notice these little details when they receive these quilts and be amused.  My window has a sewing machine showing.

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I stopped by the Food Lion after Bible Study to pick up some bananas for John.  I came home with a large package of ground beef so I decided to cook for my freezer.  I made 4 quarts of enchilada sauce, a small meatloaf, 40 large meatballs to use with spaghetti and 40 small meatballs for Swedish meatballs. I love having some starters for dinner in the freezer.  Sounds like I'll need to call the family to help us eat all this.

 No, we didn't have ground beef for dinner.  I also bought a pot roast  - it was good and leftovers for another day. Yeah!

Dresden Plate

In early 2010 I wanted to use my Aunt Graces type fabrics to make a quilt.  I waffled back and forth about patterns.  I thought about making a grandmother's fan. A friend had make a Dresden plate and  she had loaned me a pattern.  One day I typed Dresden plate in the search box and this nine patch/Dresden plate, done in Aunt Grace fabrics, picture appeared. THAT'S IT!  I knew the moment I saw it, I would make it.  There was no name to acknowledge - I believe it was posted by the person who quilted it.  And believe me the quilting was perfectly done.
This was also the first time I had used a white background in a quilt. After the top was made I spent about 6 months looking for the perfect white print backing fabric.  I layered it last July and Have just know gotten up my courage to start quilting it.  I was so glad to have that wonderful quilting to give me an idea as to how to quilt it.  It's at the limit as to size I feel I can manage on my Bernina 1130.

The plate blocks went really fast.  The straight lines were a total bore.  I have been enjoying the feathery quilting.  Using lots and lots of thread as there are lots of starts and stops.  There is a pink inner border where I will use pink thread but all the rest will be done with white Aurifil 50/2 weight.

Monday was Table of Grace at WUMC so it was cooking and fellowship.  We cooked Ham, sweet potatoes, broccoli and carrots, biscuits and apple crisp.  We had new volunteers to help serve and a local Brownie troop came to help with the clearing of tables.  They were so cute and such good helpers.

By the way the Girl Scout Organization is celebrating their 100th year this year.

Yesterday was errands and catching up day.

Sewing Machine Woes

Wednesday I took my Bernina 1130 for repair (2nd time in a month).  It seems to be the same problem and fortunately the repair technician stands by his repair for 30 days.  The first repair was  $250.

So for  now I am sewing on my Singer Featherweight that I brought back from the lake on Monday.

I got out the Dresden Plate pieces and sewed the last three together.  I had bought a large floral print (Kaffe) that I had planned to use as the centers but didn't care too much for that look.  Then I tried some Kaffe dots and really think they are cute so I'll go with them.

I think when I get my Bernina back I may machine applique the plates to the background fabric with invisible thread as there are so many color changes. I'll have to try a sample and see how it looks. 






Well time to get a move on - guess I'll fix a salad and something else to take to the potluck after church tomorrow.  It's pastor Ellen's last Sunday in our pulpit. She'll be vacationing before going to a church in Burlington, NC in July.  We'll have guest speakers for the next 3 Sundays. 

Busy Week - A Little Sewing

Monday being the last day of the month, was Table of Grace at our church. We serve a meal open to the community at no charge. My friend, Margie and I shop for groceries in the morning, have a slice of pizza at Sam's and meet back at church with Ella, Janice and Mary Jean at 1PM. We cook and are ready to serve the meal at 6. We had Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots, rolls, chocolate cake (donated by Sally)and ice cream. Other members come in and help with serving and clean up. We have music and a short message from our pastor. I love TOG day!

I left early to enjoy my birthday gift from Carole. (Thanks Again, Carole!) She took me to see Lang Lang at the NC symphony. We had seen Lang Lang's performance at Meymandi Concert Hall back in 2003 when he was just 20. Both were outstanding and he got the longest standing ovation I have witnessed there. (Unless you count when my grand kids, Shane & Hannah graduated from Raleigh Charter HS - just kidding of course)

Tues.& Wed. dedicated to medical stuff (John's tests) and fabric cutting.

Thurs. Connie H. called and we went to Wish Upon A Quilt - She was for Cat in the Hat and I got 3 more Kaffe Fassett fat quarters to go in the Dresden Plate I started this week and looked for a backgound to use with it. Since I don't have a huge amount of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, I added a bunch of other fabrics I already had. Sew I will see how it goes.

Today was TV shopping - John has been contemplating,comparing and checking for a few months- Panasonic Viera won out!