Dresden Plate Pillows

I finished the Dresden plate pillows last night. Yay!

Complete with invisible zippers, Talon circa 1971, via the thrift store.

I love finding a use for random old notions almost as much as finding a use for random vintage fabric.

Joann had a sale on pillow forms last week, which was timely.

These are going to my daughter. (Honey, if you're reading this, stop by and pick them up!)

I have really enjoyed the Dresden Plate Sew Along over at So Happy! I think this is the end of it for me, though. I have unfinished things to attend to and new ideas in the hopper, but I will still keep tabs on the others working on their Dresden projects with Kristen. There are some amazing things in progress!

I am linking to Sew & Tell Friday at amylouwho. My only other sewing this week has been to let the hem down on a pair of slacks and start hemming a graduation robe for my niece!

Digging It

I dig dirt.

And the lovely things it grows.

This weekend, I stood in the middle of one greenhouse building solely devoted to geraniums. So many breathtaking colors to choose from. I only needed one.

Planting flowers is kind of like quilting (or painting, etc.). You combine colors, patterns, and textures to create something visually appealing.


I can't remember the name of this perennial that I planted a couple years ago, but seeing it in bloom makes me so happy:

Sparkly!

I did get my Dresden plate pillows finished this evening. More on that tomorrow.

Do you garden? What makes you feel sparkly?

Smoky Mountain Stars Quilt

This is the next installment in a series documenting my earlier quilts.

In the fall of 2007, after the Modified Rail Fence was done and sent off to live at the longarm quilter's for a few months, I started a Smoky Mountain Stars quilt. This quilt design comes from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville and can be found here. It's made from thrift shop shirts. Thrifting and quilting--two of my favorite things!

Many of the shirts I found at an annual fall fair, or flea market, the proceeds of which benefit a local charity. On the last day of the fair, clothing is sold by the paper bagful, whatever you can stuff in a grocery sack for one unbelievably low price per bag. I raided the men's plaid shirt section.

You know, when you're 6'2" and female, you turn a few heads in public. But when you're super tall, female, and shopping the men's plaid shirt racks like there's no tomorrow, wearing sensible shoes, you get even more sideways glances.

Eh, whaddaya gonna do? So I hummed a k.d. lang tune and tried to ignore what was happening in my peripheral vision.

Okay, I'm kidding about the k.d. lang part.

It was Melissa Etheridge.

Seriously, though, I loved making this quilt! I enjoyed everything from cutting up the shirts, choosing which plaids to use, piecing the squares, tweaking the layout, etc. My husband even volunteered one of his black pinstripe shirts, which I used for the inner border (love!). The question of the outer border was solved by using wide strips pieced end to end. You can get a pretty decent sized strip of fabric out of an XL men's shirt back.

I finished piecing the quilt in early December, but then I wasn't sure about the quilting of it. Should I send another one to the longarm quilter, or consider having it hand quilted?

Then one day, as we were grocery shopping, an Amish family was in the store. I approached the younger woman and asked if there was someone in her community who did hand quilting for others. She was very shy, but replied that she would ask her mother and father, who by this time were down at the other end of the aisle. She joined them for a hushed confab, peppered with glances in my direction. After a few minutes, I strolled to the end of the aisle to see what the outcome was. Mrs. Miller, a diminutive woman with wispy gray hair peeking out from under her black cap, spoke quietly and politely. She indicated there was a woman in the community who did hand quilting for others. However, depending on the size of the project and how soon it needed to be done, Mrs. Miller said that she herself might be interested in the job, if it could wait until after Christmas. I told her I was in no hurry whatsoever, and we talked a little about the quilt and ultimately exchanged addresses. I said I would get in touch with her after the holidays.

Well, the overthinking began almost immediately, and by the time January came, I had a case of cold feet. After all, I knew nothing about this woman's quilting skills. I had never seen any of her work. Was it wise to hand over to a virtual stranger a project I had put so many hours into?

I did not contact her.

Along about the third week of January, a letter arrived in the mail. It was from Mrs. Miller, who in neat, precise cursive wrote that she was ready for my quilt. She enclosed directions to her farm and the days and times she would be home, if it would "suit" me to come with the quilt then.

I took the quilt to her the very next weekend.

A month later, another letter arrived, this one advising that the quilt was done and ready to pick up. I hadn't asked what she charged, so I went to the bank and withdrew a wad of cash--four times more than the actual cost, as it turned out. She had tallied on a piece of note paper the number of linear feet of thread used in the quilting, which figure was then multiplied by so many cents per foot. That was the bill. I tipped her generously.

I made the quilt label from the inner yoke of one of the thrifted shirts. Love the graphics on it!

I referred to it as a "cowboy quilt," because of the kinds of shirts it was made from, but the term isn't mine. It came from Lynn at Klein Meisje Quilts, whose beautiful "cowboy quilts" were a source of inspiration.

Mrs. Miller did a wonderful job of hand quilting. Just look at those fine stitches! I'm so glad for the serendipity of meeting her, and grateful for her follow through.

Sometimes you just have to let go, take a risk, and trust that it'll work out. In this case, it certainly did.

The Vanishing UFO

There is one less UFO in my life, and that is a very good thing!

It was starting to feel a little claustrophic in the sewing room, like I was surrounded by things in varying states of half- or almost-done-ness. Add to that a craving for variety and the itch to do something else other than the current project, and you end up with this.

A finished zigzag baby quilt!

See? I can finish something...eventually.

There's no baby in anyone's immediate future, that I know of. This was just one of those things begun last year and then shelved, as I mentioned on Wednesday when I kvetched about basting. I felt like finishing it.


This is the first quilt I have quilted on Jane, my Juki TL-98Q. She is a workhorse, that Jane. It took me a row or two to get comfortable with all the stopping and pivoting, but I got the hang of it.

I didn't have enough of the Joel Dewberry Deer Valley Columbine print for the whole back, so I had to piece one together. I'm trying to conserve my dwindling scraps of Erin Michaels Lush, the blue and rust colored floral, so I just put little peeks of it in the backing.

By the way, if anybody knows where I can still get a bit of the of the deer paint-by-number print (preferably in Sky, but beggars can't be choosers), let me know. I have an affinity for vintage paint-by-numbers, but unfortunately I showed up late to the Lush fabric party and it was mostly sold out by then.

I think I like the back of this quilt almost as much as the front!

I'll be linking to Sew & Tell Fridays. Thanks for visiting, and be sure to check out the other talented Sew & Tellers over at amylouwho!

Argh, Pyrex!

Alternate title, Pyrex: Resistance is Futile!

Okay, I give up. I have tried (and failed) to resist collecting this wonderful stuff. You all keep posting your gorgeous Pyrex, and I'm sorry but that's called enabling. :) But until there is a 12-Step program for Pyrexia (someone else's term--was it Vonlipi?), I may as well show you what came home with me this past week.

Besides, it's Vintage Thingie Thursday!

I have been wanting a divided dish, and what with the antique mall having a sale last weekend, I finally bought one. The tag on it said "1958 Pyrex Covered Divided Casserole Dish With Stand." Good to know. This is the Barbed Wire pattern. Love at first sight, I tell ya.

That very night, I used it for taco fixings. Refried black beans on one side and taco meat on the other, if you must know.

And then I found these little whats-its. Are they not adorable? I don't think they're salt & pepper shakers, but maybe for oil and vinegar?

Okay, I actually bought two divided dishes. This one is Pink Daisy.

I do believe a cure for the blues may very well be a piece of pink Py!

The aqua bowl in the Scroll pattern was my mother's. Dad gave it to me last week as we were unpacking some of the moving boxes in his kitchen. I am not sure if the lid is original, but that's how she had used it.

And finally, the tablecloth is a thrift store find from a few months back!

Thanks for visiting today! Be sure to swing by Colorado Lady and see what tempting treasures others have found irresistible!