Just the facts...

I do love blue and green quilts.

The pattern ~ "Small Plates" from The Practical Guide to Patchwork.

The fabric ~ Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry.
The temperature 16 degrees.
The quilting ~ by me with a ferny leaf design.
Now you know!

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Dresdens

I've always loved Dresdens. It's one of the first blocks I tried many years ago in very traditional fabrics. There's been a revival and I had to try some with a modern twist. I'm starting with my Amy Butler Soul Blossoms and adding on from there. I've read lots of tutorials online and mashed them together in my own way. So in case you want to know, here's how I'm doing mine.

To cut the wedges, I'm using a Fat Cat ruler by EZ. It's a 30 degree wedge, so you need 12 wedges per block. They're somewhat fatter than the traditional Dresden, but I think they show off the bigger prints better and I like "fat".

I cut a 5" strip from a fat quarter. (5" x 21"). I'm cutting 4 wedges from each fabric, flipping the ruler up and down. I can also get 6 - 2" squares from the leftover of the strip. My plan is to make a sashing of 2" squares.
Fold a wedge in half long ways and stitch across the fatter edge.
Trim the corner off on the folded side.
Keep the wedge folded in half and finger press a crease along the length.
Finger press the seam open.
Use a point turner to turn the wedge right side out. Match the seam to your finger-pressed lengthwise crease; press.
Sew your wedges together. Try to be very accurate with your seam allowance if you want it to lay flat. Be sure the outside edges meet exactly - don't worry too much about the inside edge. Press the seams open. Give your plate a nice firm press with steam and make it very flat.
For the center circle, I use a 3 1/2" heat resistant circle template, trace it to my fabric and cut it out leaving 1/4" seam allowance.
Run a gathering stitch (I do it by hand) around the circle. Place the template in the middle and pull up the gathering. Pull it nice and tight, so you have a nice smooth edge. Spray some starch into a cup and use a paint brush or Q-tip to starch the seam allowance. Iron well - with the template still in place. Flip it over and iron again. Once the starch is completely dry remove the template. You can pull up the basting stitches a little to reform a perfect circle.
Pin everything to your background and applique. I'm doing it by hand - I can do one in 90 minutes (sorry, yes, I time myself). You could also machine stitch with a straight stitch, a zig zag stitch or a buttonhole stitch.
I always make my background oversized and trim down once the applique is done. Trim to 14 1/2" by lining the 7 1/4" mark along the center seam line between the wedges.My plan is to applique 6 blocks on very soft, pastel Kona solids and 6 blocks on Kona Snow. Two down - 10 to go!

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Binding weather...

Lots of snow and it's the perfect weather to sit under a quilt, watch some TV, drink a glass of wine and sew on a binding. This quilt came back from the quilter last week and, my goodness, am I happy with it! The pattern is from the first issue of Fat Quarterly and the fabric is Hope Valley and Kona Snow (appropriate!).

My newest quilt always goes on the back of the couch ready to pull up for an afternoon nap.

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Valentines sewing

I did a little sewing of Valentine gifts this weekend. Some zippered pouches... yes, zippers (I haven't done one in YEARS!).

They'll be filled with some goodies and shipped off today.

The pattern is from Terri Atkinson and as her patterns always do, it came with perfect directions.

I also made a few Valentiney bibs for my little noodles-with-marinara-eating grand daughter, so she can eat in style.

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Inspiration

Our Saint Louis Modern Quilt Guild has issued a challenge. Use 21 pieces of a Kona Cotton solid charm pack, generously donated by Robert Kaufman to create a quilted wall hanging. I seldom do challenges (I really don't like any guidelines), but I'm taking this one.

I'm searching for inspiration and on a recent trip to Crate and Barrel, I found a bit. This pillow... I see a block here.

A gorgeous table runner...

I think I see a bit of a pieced design in this...
This one reminds me of Oh Fransson's Tokyo Subway Map quilt along.
And the newest issue of the e-magazine Fat Quarterly is focused on solids.

Maybe I CAN do this?? Next stop, EQ7!

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Greenfield Hill

I was really reluctant to buy Denise Schmidt's new line "Greenfield Hill". But I know myself and when I start seeing all the beautiful quilts everyone starts making, I'll be scrambling to find some. After visiting some of my favorite bloggers for inspiration, here, here and here, I ordered a pack from Fabric Worm. It was one of their custom bundles, so there were a few coordinating pieces from other lines as well.

I added a few from my stash...

And ended up with a very rich looking blend of fabrics that I'm really happy with. My mix includes 2 pieces of voile that are part of the "Greenfield Hill" line. They're my favorite prints in the line, so I had to include them, but have never worked with voile before.

I decided to use the pattern from The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman called "Superstar". It's a pretty traditional block, but uses solids to make it a bit more contemporary. I plan on using several neutral solids in taupes, creams and tans.
I tried 2 blocks today, using a slight variation to the pattern. I made the background pieces a little larger, so the points will not go to the edge of the block. I think that will make me happy when I go to put the blocks together.

I found the voile a little tricky to work with. The piecing went fine, but there is a little shadowing through of the seam allowance on the front of the block. Any suggestions? Have you used voile in quilts?

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MBS recipe...

I've got an easy baby quilt over at The Moda Bake Shop today!

I wanted it to be super easy especially for beginning quilters. I included this handy tip at the end. If you're a new machine quilter and just comfortable with stippling, but want to create a custom look - change your thread color to match the fabric you're sewing on. I did a simple star in each of the small squares, but then stippled everything else. By stopping a few times to change to matching thread, I got a custom look with simple quilting.

The quilt is made with "It's a Hoot" and I love this striped backing. Looks like I pieced it.

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