Wednesday 30 December 2009

I'm really cooking now!

Actually, it's more like plating. Yesterday was my first free day from family obligations during the holidays, so I made Dresden Plates. I used various patterns I found on Google Images and just played with them. These are all machine sewn, but I hope to make some with the curved edge as well.
This one is finishing at 15 inches. I've been cutting into yardage for these -- some Kaffe Fassetts, some American Jane, some Mark Lipinski I'd been saving for no particular reason, and mixing them with other saturated colours and scraps. I have 21 different fabrics in this plate. Because of my haphazard way of cutting, I don't have equal amounts of anything, and really, cutting is the worst part of this exercise. I dutifully made a plastic template and outlined it with black marker, but I'm still cutting slices off the edges. Arrrggh!!
Here's four of the big ones -- they're all different but the fabrics overlap from plate to plate. I'm finding the really light and really dark blades stick out, so I'm trying to space them out evenly when I can. I'm loving the colours here.

These two use a different pattern and finish at 8.5 inches. The one at the right is from BumbleBeans  scrap bag that I won, and the left one is from my collection of 1930s reproductions. I have many more blades cut for this size, so I'm going to make more of these.  These have 14 blades instead of the 21 in the big ones.



Here's everything on my design wall -- spiderwebs and plates. I have a circular thing going right now. Now that I've cut into my yardage, the scraps will find their way into the last 9 spiderwebs I need. I'm only using already cut strings and scraps for this project, so I'm happy that those colourful Kaffes can be part of the spiderwebs. I also did a bit of shopping at the post-Christmas sales -- five metres of fun Christmas prints and fun additions to the stash. I used the Peanuts print to make a pillowcase as a belated Christmas gift. I like how the b/w print on the cuff mimics the snow on the Peanuts print.


11 comments:

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

No matter how carefully I have cut the petals for a Dresdon plate, there is always a little bit of taking in to make it lay flat. I love your scrapbag ones, happy color.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

Your inspiring me to finish my dresden quilt... I just have not found my groove or direction with mine... I love seeing my scraps being made into something fabulous by you! they have NEW Life! Keep rocking them out, they look fantastic!

Nina Lise@Mrs Moen said...

Those plates are so pretty!
I have been reading some of your older and very interesting posts about fabric shopping, and my shopping habits are very much like yours. Designer lines of fabric is not all that here in Norway; we tend to buy fabric by colour. Any fabric is very expensive here, so I do a lot of my shopping online, not minding if it's last month's design:-)

Dena said...

I have an acrylic template that I use for making Dresdan plates. It works great and I can make several different sizes using the same template. I like your fabric choices. Great job!

Rosalyn Manesse said...

Excellent! I love to make Dresden Plates, too.

heath said...

These are great! Perhaps the Strip Piecers will be able to help you out with more for our challenge???

Mary-Kay said...

Make a master template then make a few templates from it. That way you can check to see how much you cut off and then replace it with a new template of the correct size. I kept on cutting off the edges when I made a dresden plate quilt last year. I love the string quilt and have been meaning to make one. Mayb this is the year to do it.

Laura Reavis said...

ohhhh, I totally LOVE LOVE LOVE the Peanuts pillowcase :) Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I love the dresden plates - one of my favourite blocks!
Valerie
http://www.pastimesonline.ca/block-of-the-month/

Myra said...

Your new header is awesome Brenda! 8-)
Your Dresden Plates are wonderful!
Great purchases, and love that Peanuts pillowcase!
Happy new year to you, and may it be a good one! 8-)

Quiltdivajulie said...

I'm almost ready to start on a spider web quilt (batiks). Do you have a 'pattern' that you're using for your dimensions? The colors are GREAT.

And those Dresdens - such happy, bright colors. Oh, yes!!!

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