Since the quilting of the Dresden quilt has stalled out until the longarm is re-timed, I've begun Oliver's quilt, which I'll call 'Farming with John Deere'. I cut apart this panel, which I found in one of the bins of fabrics my late sister-in-law Janice gave me shortly before she passed away. Each section is about 16" x 17". One border piece is shorter than the other; evidently Janice needed a little tractor in that border for one of her many projects. Now to play with designs in EQ8.
I was happily quilting away this afternoon, when I hit a ruler. Now the timing is messed up, and I'll be taking my machine to the tech tomorrow. But... I managed to get a little bit done today.
Thinking possibly I could limp the machine to the end of the quilt, I put in a new needle and gave it a try; but you can see from the final picture that the poor machine is now skipping stitches. So that ended that.
There was a pretty sky outside my window.
Today I loaded the backing, batting, and Dresden Flowers & Flutters quilt top on my frame and began quilting it. The top three borders are done, and I've rolled the quilt forward. Photos 6 and 7 show how I keep track of which arc ruler I've used, so that I may properly duplicate it at the other end of the quilt. 8, 9, and 10 show the area next to be quilted. I'm using Quilters' Dream 80/20 batting. The quilt is for granddaughter Keira.
Today I finished appliquéing the Dresden Plate flowers and the butterflies to the quilt background. I didn't have a piece of fabric large enough for the backing, so I pulled out two pieces, a dark mauve with tiny dark cream flowers and a pink batik with teal, purple, and cream swirls, and set about combining them into a piece that would wind up approximately the correct size. I've used up nearly all of both fabrics. The third and fourth pictures are views from the window in the north-facing dormer in my quilting studio this rainy day.
The Dresden Plate flowers and the butterflies are all glued down to the background and ready to be appliquéd.
Dresden Plates 16, 17, and 18. I've printed templates on newsprint for seven different butterflies. I'll trace them onto freezer paper tomorrow, choose some fabrics, cut the pieces, and start starching and pressing under the edges. I'll finish the center circles for the flowers the same way.
Tentative layout. Back to making Dresden Plates! I need a few more small ones. Next, butterflies!
Two more Dresden Plates done; another couple in the works. But first, I need to lay the whole works out on my bed and see how many more I should make.
