Wednesday 18 July 2012

Sunflowers and WIP's

Although I have had the Dresden plate for my next Rainbow cushion pieced for ages, it has been gathering dust in the cupboard whilst other projects muscled their way to the top of the pile. Well, it finally got to the top of the pile, nudged a little by the fact that this month's Craftsy BOM blocks are Dresden plates! I haven't started my Craftsy blocks for July yet, but I have watched the video and I was taken with the way that Amy Gibson finishes the centres of her Dresden plates. She cuts out two circles of fabric and sews them all the way around with a 1/4" seam then makes a cut in the back of the circle and turns the circle fabrics outside in. Seemed a lot less work than needleturn applique, which is what I had intended to do, so I gave it a go :)

And here it is, I found it hard to get the circle shape exactly right, but it is not far off and it was a lot quicker than trying to get an even circle with needleturn applique that is for sure! As I am trying to use new techniques with these cushions, I decided to have a go at using one of the embroidery stitches on the sewing machine to frame the sunflower.

All was going surprisingly well until I got distracted! Then what had been a nice, even spacing of vine tendrils became a rather dense vine. Unpicking dense machine embroidery is no joke, and I definitely learned my lesson to pay attention all the time!


Still another new technique tried and, if not mastered, at least completed, and another project moved from waiting to finished!

So this is how my WIP list looks now

Completed projects

  • Shades of Green, Fleur Bleu, Checkered Heart, Orange, Sunflower and Reindeer cushions
  • Orphan Block needle roll, Pieced Arc Tea towel, Purse and Padded Hangers Tutorial
  • Sunflower and Sew Happy QAL quilt
  • Play mini-quilt challenge quilt 
  • Patchwork Block, Dragon and Fashionista Bags
Ongoing

  • 6 blocks of In Color Order HST BOM 
  • (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted
  • 8 Zakka-style SAL projects completed
  • Teatime quilt pieced 
  • Let's get Acquainted Blog Hop project 
  • 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks
  • 12 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed (on schedule)  
  • In the Bag Ugly Fabric challenge fabrics arrived still waiting for inspiration!
  • 4 Summer Quilt Bee blocks completed and sent
  • 1 Star of Africa Bee block completed and sent
Waiting

  • Indigo and violet rainbow cushions
  • Last block of Sampler quilt
  • Amy Butler bag
  • Christmas mini quilts
  • Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop project 
The waiting list is looking pretty healthy, now I need to get to grips with some of the projects that have been loitering on that ongoing list before they get lost under all that dust!

If, like me, you have several orphan paper-pieced blocks lying around waiting to be made into something wonderful, their wait may soon be over. Kristy at Quiet Play has just announced the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop, which kicks off on August 1st and runs for the whole month, except Sundays. Naturally there will be giveaways and prizes involved with a linky party at the end for showing off all the wonderful creations. I can't wait, but will have to as my day on the Blog Hop is not until August 27th!  

If you haven't already check out this week's Blogs on the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop, you are missing out on

July 17
    Katie from Kati's Quilting
    Claire from Sewing over Pins
    Caroline from Quilting in the Cold 
July 19
    Jamie from Sweet Baby Jamie
    Janine from Rainbow Hare Quilts 



Looking forward to seeing all your progress this week.
Linking up to WIP WednesdayQuilt Story and We Did it Wednesday

16 comments:

  1. Your Dresden looks lovely! Well done on the circle centre - very tidy!

    Looking forward to seeing what you make for the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop! :) Thanks for posting about it!

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  2. Looks fantastic! The machine embroidery is a lovely touch altho' I can imagine how hard unpicking the bits that went wrong was!!

    Your project list scares me - I just can't line my projects up like that - I'd go and hide somewhere. As it stands right now I have a knitting project underway and a crochet project lined up that have to be completed before Christmas (the blanket will take a while) plus my monthly afghan CAL (which I'm now 2 months behind on - oops!), then anything else I choose to do is a bonus ... when I get back to doing anything at all that is!!

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    1. Thanks Fiona, I will certainly pay close attention to the machine at all times now! The list isn't so bad, it keeps me on track having it all written down somewhere, otherwise I have a bad habit of starting things and never finishing them. I can't start a project and not do anything else until it is finished, I would be bored to tears, so I really need something to remind me just what I have started.

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  3. I used the very same technique on my Echo Dresden plates. Quick and easy. I too found it slightly difficult to place the centres just right. We're no machines and I think you did well. :)

    By the way, your list is impressive!

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  4. Framing the sunflower with embroidery is a very clever idea, Fiona. I wouldn't have wanted to be you doing that unpicking!!! I hate unpicking at the best of times. Your sunflower is BEAUTIFUL!!!

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  5. I am in love with dresden plates at the minute, just made a tiny one and it's adorable! I feel for you having to unpick machine embroidery, the last time I had to do that I had to wash the fabric as it was quite badly marked, I was gutted. Great finished item though it looks great! x

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  6. Your sunflower Dresden is beautiful. I love making the Dresden Plate and will have to try that idea for my center next time. Thanks for the tip.

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  7. What a great idea for a dresden! beautiful.

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  8. Such a happy pillow! The vine is such a beautiful stitch and it goes so well with your sunflower! I can't imagine how much time it to unpick the dense vines..it is so hard not to go on auto-pilot when sewing in long stretches sometimes. That technique for the center sounds so great, I never would have thought of that!

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  9. What a wonderful dresden!! And the embroidery does frame it just perfectly. Your very brave for unpicking the embroidery, I think I'd just pretend I couldn't see the problem area!

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  10. I love the sunflower happiness of this!

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  11. Yay for mastering new techniques! Did you clip your curves before you turned through? You need to clip fairly frequently to get a round circle...

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  12. Your Dresden is lovely ; )

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  13. Just love your sunflower Dresden! Will have to try the center that way next time myself :)

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