Red and White Dresdens are stitched

My favorite WIP, the Red and White pieced Dresdens, are all stitched down onto their backgrounds.  

Trying to get a good photo was tricky. And yes, I probably should have ironed them first!

This is a better shot as the true colour comes through, but I couldn't fit all the blocks in the lens!

Still you get the idea.  I cannot made up my mind about the colour for the centres.  I thought the choice would be between white/cream print or red print.

But it turned out that the 2.5" strips were not wide enough to make a centre from, so I couldn't use the left over light strips from my dresden's.  Instead I tried some French General reds.

The red print is a bit distracting, but I like the size better then the plain red.

You can see the size difference here.  I am not going to have enough of this solid red - I cut into a layer cake square to get it.  So I am either going shopping or finding another suitable fabric, perhaps a red with a very small print out of the same layer cake.

Happy quilting Sue.

Clean it up, throw it out, get organised!

 Its typical cold winters weather here, except we are not getting much rain.  I decided that the sewing nook needed a big tidy up and some stuff had to go!

I started by rearranging my wall hangings and mini quilts. 

Then I got stuck into the scraps I had accumulated but never sorted.  I threw things out...including a UFO....well, I just threw out all the tiny applique pieces I was never going to stitch down because I no longer like the pattern.  I rehoused the magazine pattern in the book case and I cut the background fabric up into 2.5" squares! I cut up all the scraps I could make into 2.5" squares or half square triangles for my Scrappy Sprouts project.

I discovered these pieced Dresden wedges left over from a quilt I made HERE back in 2013.  I still have a metre of purple fabric that matches these, but was never used....I am thinking I could make a nice pillow with these fabrics, so a new WIP is added to the list!

These lovely fussy cut tractors were also discovered.  I can feel another kids quilt coming up next!

I opened the mail to find this lovely thank you card from the new owner of the first Scrappy Bargello I made (HERE), a lady affected by the Dungog floods.  It is nice to know that the quilt it is loved and appreciated, but sad to hear that she is still waiting for major repairs to her unit, but I guess insurance claims and rebuilding takes time.

Happy quilting, Sue.

Sewing weekend at Bordertown part 2

My mother sewed the squares for this quilt top together last year at our retreat.  So this year she cut the blocks out with the twister tool and then stitched them back together, very pretty pastels, from her stash.

Then she worked on piecing the blocks together for this stunning quilt.  The block itself didn't excite me much, but I love it now, especially seeing these colours together. 

 Mum also made these blocks, using a pattern she had brought that included a template.  She made more than these few, but I don't have a updated picture of the final amount.

Lisa worked on several projects over the weekend and I seem to be lacking photos of her progress.  She cut up this gorgeous layer cake, and realised she had a bit of  Basic Grey theme happening.

Lisa also started work on this quilt.  I remember taking the photo of the pattern because she had fabric flying so fast I wasn't sure I would ever see all the blocks laid out...and I didn't!

But the one project Lisa was working on at the end of the weekend all had us itching to start our own...pieced feathers!  This is a free Anna Maria Horner pattern called Feather Bed Quilt and I love it!

Vicki also worked on several projects.  She started a funky coloured modern Dresden plate for her sister....these are all made from one fabric with different coloured stripes.  So I guess you call that fussy cut Dresden?

Vicki also worked on the quilt she started last year, my favorite reproduction tumblers.  This quilt is destined to be very large and she was just auditioning which way to place the rows here.

Vicki also made some traditional red and white Dresden's, here they are partially constructed being auditioned for backgrounds. That is my green fabric, but her hoodie top light blue made a great contrast which I think won the vote as our favorite!

Phew, that is all the show and tell!  Happy quilting, Sue SA.