Offbeat

A Dresden block is something I've tackled just once or twice - I think as bee blocks - but when I saw Ellyn/ellyn's place Funky Dresden I was enticed to give it a try. With her two-piece tutorial (cut/sew) it went together easily, and I really enjoyed the process.



Carolyn Friedlander's Euclid was chosen as my Dresden focus fabric, with a background of Kona Bone and an unidentified stash blue. (Sidenote: I found it equally frustrating and amusing that though I own several color cards, I still couldn't figure out what that blue was. So yeah, I don't label all my solids either.)

Ok. True confession: I was so anxious to make the Dresden itself, that I didn't totally follow the front-end of Ellyn's tutorial. I think what I actually did was grab a half-yard piece of fabric, thinking it was a full yard. At any rate, when it came time to cut the rest of the background, I didn't have enough. SO, enter Kaufman Essex in Natural behind the Bone, and a lovely Moda Cross Weave in Storm behind the blue. A different look to be sure, but I'm good with it.



I went with hand-applique to attach the center to the background, and then got to quilting. After rummaging through all my Aurifil 50wt, I settled on two unlikely-named colors: #5021 (light grey) and #1158 (medium grey), though they ended up working just fine.

Confession #2: I marked the quilt top with my hera, fully planning to echo in between each spoke of the Dresden. But I got to the machine and changed course, echoing the shapes on each half. Unpredictable much?



Add a little matched binding, and the quilt finished at 29" x 31". It was a fun little diversion. Thanks for sharing your tutorial, Ellyn! Dresdens really aren't as intimidating as they look!

W.i.P. Wednesday

W.i.P. Wednesday seems to find us where we are, doesn't it? And it finds me barely gearing up again with some new projects. 

Completed projects
Zakka Style Sew-Along project #24: Nested Boxes - This project wrapped up the sew along; there's a full post here about them and a farewell to Zakka here.

FAITH Circle Butterfly blocks and Always Bee Learning New York Beauty blocks - one more bee block for September and I'll share about them all together.

Ongoing projects
Modern Crosses quilt - My curio by basicgrey arrived this week, along with the background and backing fabrics. Just to figure things out, I did get one block made. I'm looking forward to seeing this come together.

Mod Pop Quiltalong - Fabric squares are cut, and templates arrived!

Christmas quilt - nothing to share yet, but I did find inspiration for this one finally and have begun cutting fabric.

Dresden project - same as above - inspiration found and some trimming done, but no real progress.

Upcoming projects
* Modern Blocks Bee Stonehenge block NEW
* nametag for Sewing Summit NEW
* scrappy Metrolink
* another frame purse - another sew-in, or shall I tempt fate with a glue-in?
* use Polaroid blocks NEW
* placemats? NEW
* Binary quilt using blocks from Modern Blocks Bee NEW

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

Prepping

Oh my goodness. When I saw Allegory's post suggesting we all have a prep party the first Sunday of each month, I thought it was the best idea! Trying to work down my own "to do" list while simultaneously participating in a swap, monthly bees, and a sew-along . . . well, things can get confusing! And having some prep done as I head into a new month seemed like it would be sooo helpful! So in a relatively short amount of time this afternoon, I did the following prep work:

• Tracing pattern for embroidery onto fabric for this week's zakka project - and yes, I changed it up just a tad. Also cut out the other fabric I'll need.

• I have a bee block that needs a fix, so I hunted down the fabric needed and have that ready to stitch back up.

• Binding made for QWERTY II. 

• Pattern chosen and fabric cut for a 100 Quilts for Kids quilt - finally.

• Fabric gathered and centers cut for improvisational log cabin mini quilt.

• Last of all, I hauled out blocks left over from my Kaleidoscope quilt made last summer. I'd had a bit of an issue with several blocks buckling in the center, and had refrained from using them in my quilt. 

         Then came the {hopefully} bright idea of cutting Dresden wedges
         out of them.

          So I have 32 wedges now - hopefully enough for something.

Linking up with {sew} Allegorical's prep party.