Hallowe’en 1904 QAL–Step Six • Final Post

July 13, 2016January 12, 2017 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

First up, some business to take care of.

I recently had a post about creativity/uniqueness/Uppercase/Collaboration, where I had a giveaway with two Uppercase magazines and a charm pack of Uppercase Fabric. So many of your comments were incredibly thoughtful about the process of creativity and the quality of being unique. Several were very encouraging to me, which was quite appreciated and touched my heart. Of course, I’ve pasted them in my journal for those less-than-stellar creative days. Thank you all so very much.

I used the True Random Number Generator (I like to spread the love around the random number generators), and it picked Mary, of NeedledMom. Email is on it’s way to you, Mary, and I’ll get the treats mailed off to you this week!

Okay, back to Halloween 1904. This was our schedule:

Step 1 (Preparation): February 13, 2016–buy all the fabrics and find the pattern. Patterns are available from Primitive Gatherings. The quilt measures 90 by 90, which is too large for me, so I’m only doing nine blocks. Each block is 20″ square, and with the outer borders, that should come to roughly 65″ square. I may change my mind, but this looks good from here.

Step 2: March 13, 2016–Cut out the quilt: the tan backgrounds of the squares, the border triangles, the smaller half-square triangles, strips for the wonky stars, but save the piano key border for later.

Step 3: April 13, 2016–Assemble four blocks and add large appliques; use Thelma’s method (of Cupcakes and Daisies) for adding the curlicue stem. Make and add half-square triangeles (HSTs) around these blocks, using the 8-at-a-time method of HSTs.

Step 4: May 13, 2016–Cut and make the wonky star blocks from templates and strips. I’m doing five blocks, so will need to make twenty wonky stars and true them up. Add on the large outside triangles.

Step 5: June 13, 2016–Assemble the rest of the star blocks, by adding their HST borders. In the pattern, they are mixed up and varied, but also harmonized (some have a mix of orange and black, some have just black, some have just orange.) Make your own rules and go with it.

AND NOW! WE ARE AT Step 6: July 13, 2016–Arrange the blocks on your design wall and stitch together. Cut the pieces for your borders. Make the four corner pinwheels. Sew borders together and attach them to the quilt. Ta-Done!!

AND THERE IS AN UPDATE AT THE END OF THIS POST, added December 2016

We finished up here last time, with the center of the quilt put together, the blocks placed and sewn together (and yes, I fixed the lower sawtooth edge on the right). Leisa and I are making a 9-block quilt; the pattern calls for 12 blocks.

Make more HST blocks: there are four blocks per pinwheel, so this time I didn’t use the eight-at-a-time method, but instead, followed the pattern’s recipe for two-at-a-time (check there for dimensions).

Trim each HST to 3″ using your favorite method, then stitch four together to make a pinwheel.

Press, as shown, with all seams to the dark, popping a few stitches in the middle to allow the seam allowances to make their own tiny pinwheel. Halloween6_1

True the corner pinwheel square to 5 1/2.”

You’ll be making four corner pinwheels.

Cut your pieces for your borders, following the pattern directions. For the smaller nine-block quilt, adjust down to 24 total per side. I tried to randomize the sewing of the oranges in between the black pieces, as I had many more different types of orange. Just do your best.

Press the seams going one way. You’ll notice that you begin with a black and end with an orange piece (or visa versa). I chose to press my seams toward the orange, from the black, doing the same on all four border strips.

Matching all the seams, pin and stitch on the borders: I sewed on the top border and the bottom border and pressed the seam away from the quilt top (towards the border). Then I sewed the sides on, but I left one inch free on the beginning of that seam and on the end of that seam, which would allow me to stitch on the pinwheel blocks later. You can kind of see where it’s not sewn down, above.

Now, audition your pinwheels–you’ll like them going one way or the other, or swap them out to get the look that pleases you. But please don’t overthink this step. When you get them how you like them, stitch them on the side borders at both ends. Press. Then finish stitching the side seams.

Halloween6_5 Now press those seams away from the quilt top, towards the border. You are done!

I went outside in the sunset and took pictures of the completed quilt top.

I know when you were deep in wonky stars and then deeper in making millions of half-square triangles, you wanted to quit; however, this last part is easy-peasy, so you should come roaring into the finish line.

All Hallows Eve
Quilt #174
68″ square

Update (December 2016): I finished the quilt, taking it over to my quilter. She got it back to me by the end of November and by December, the binding and sleeve were on.

Here’s the back!
(Now back to the original post)

Congratulations on finishing your Halloween Quilt, and so early! Thanks for following along our QAL. Hope you enjoy your quilt this Halloween!

When you finish, send me a photo (or two) and I’ll put them up on the blog. Happy Haunting, everyone!

Classes

Class with Gwen Marston in San Luis Obispo

July 8, 2016July 7, 2016 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

NOTE: If you are looking for the Uppercase Magazine and fabric giveaway, it’s *here.*

Last weekend I had a chance to take a class from Gwen Marston, who is retiring this year. I have several of her books, and have long been an admirer. It was held in San Luis Obispo, so my husband brought his bike and came with me to help with the driving and so we could enjoy the town. It was held at SLO Creative Studio, a place where they hold classes, teach long-arm quilting. The place was filled with tables and long-arm machines, and touches of Gwen were everywhere, as in the quilt, above. It was fun to see in person.

Just to show you I’m a bonafide Gwen Fan, here’s the quilt I made, inspired by hers.

She started the class a bit early, telling about where she lived, giving us a couple of stories, then launched into the class, which was sewing traditional small quilts. It was fun to hear her talk–she’s very entertaining–and of course, I loved all the small quilts.

Here are some students trying to figure out the sizes of pieces.

Our charge was to get cutting, get sewing. She challenged us to use traditional methods, of cutting a bunch of squares, bunch of triangles, saying the new ways didn’t seem to cut much time from the construction.

The quilts all stacked up.

A couple of her labels. She used to roll the fabric down into a typewriter, type out her label, and then sew it on. Well, they weren’t really labels–they were typing on the sleeve. I enjoyed working in the traditional methods, but I must admit my eye was drawn to this series of baskets (below), made by a student in the previous day’s class.

I took my lunch outside to get a break from the classroom. They had us order in from a local sandwich shop, Ben Franklin’s, which was great. Then I went back in and I sewed and sewed and pressed and sewed the old fashioned way.

I can’t say it was any faster, but it didn’t seem to be slower, either. But I’d have to say it was a more inaccurate to sew together a bunch of squares, than to make strip sets, and measure out my HSTs and know where I was going. I didn’t true up any squares, but just threw it together, so it’s a bit wonky. But I did get something done, which is not always possible when sewing away from my usual space. I seem to have patriotic on my mind, as it was Friday, of the 4th of July weekend.

My husband, after enjoying his bike ride, picked me up and we ran an errand to Betty’s Fabrics, a nice shop in town.

While in SLO (as they abbreviate their town’s name), we also went to their Thursday night Street Market (the night before class) and had barbecue. After class we visited the San Luis Obispo Mission (above), and tucked into the museum to see their exhibit. I loved the mixed media piece below.

And there was a quilt in the exhibit, too!

In the plaza in front of the Mission, a live band was playing (this town has all the fun!). We were able to get a seat out on the patio at Luna Red next door, and ate our happy hour appetizers while enjoying the music. (Black Bean Hummus, above)

After, we sat on the bench just outside the Mission, talked about the bikes in the “bike parking lot” out front, and enjoyed the evening. My husband is most understanding about the quilt passion that seems to leak out of me all the time, as well as being very supportive, which I appreciate more than I can say. Sitting there on the bench, watching the passers-by and just visiting about nothing much, was the perfect ending to a weekend away.

Sometimes it is the small things that matter most.

Chuck Nohara · Creating · Giveaway · Quilts

Uppercase Fabrics, Kevin Umana, and Creativity Breakout

July 5, 2016April 9, 2018 Elizabeth E.81 Comments

This post is the story of two creatives, well, maybe three. One is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. That’s Kevin Umaña, up there.

Another is Janine Vangool, a graphic artist and editor-in-chief of Uppercase Magazine in Canada, who recently released a line of fabric through Windham Fabrics (photo of Janine from *here*).

And then there’s me, but you know what I look like.

And it’s also the tale of two quilts and a quilt block (which is at the end, by the giveaway from Uppercase and Janine, so keep reading).

Some time ago, my nephew linked me over to Kevin’s Instagram feed, as he knew I am slightly passionate about quilts and designs, and I’m especially in love the the “grid.” Apparently Kevin loves it too, as well as color and shape and repeated lines. (All these images are posted with his permission.)

I had sort of been in a creative slump, slightly burned out, not really knowing what to do next besides bee blocks and the Same Old. Idly scrolling through Kevin’s feed one afternoon, I found a few designs that interested me; he and I began to correspond, and then collaborate.

About the same time, Uppercase Magazine‘s Janine Vangool announced that they were producing an Encyclopedia (images from Uppercase’s website), and the one that interested me was her Stitch-Illo, one of three that was launching the Encyclopedia series. Since I’d missed submitting to her Compendium (which is always on my nightstand), I went right to her website and started choosing pictures to submit, planning on getting the submission in early. Everything was going along swimmingly until I hit this question: “What makes your work unique?”

Unique?

No matter what I wrote, it sounded trite and useless and idiotic and banal and cliched, and believe I re-wrote the answer to that question about 50 times. I felt dead in the water. (I’m sure Kevin wondered what happened to me.) It was like coming up to a mirror and instead of seeing a reflection of my image, it was like seeing past me into an empty sewing room, forty million quilts stacked to the ceiling, but they were all somebody else’s vision or creation or idea. Nothing unique anywhere.

That question rattled around in my head while on a trip with my husband, and where it rained nearly every day, giving me lots of time to think. I slowly reviewed all the quilts I had pictures for while sitting in my hotel room, wondering; do we all make the same quilt, over and over? Not our own same quilt, but the One of the Moment, currently seen on everyone’s Instagram feed, or splashed all over the quilty magazines? Where was my unique? If someone saw one of my quilts, would they say, “Oh, yes–that’s Elizabeth’s!” And if I really had a unique, what was it? What did it look like? How could I tell it from someone else’s?

And in my more cynical moments, I’d say, “Well who cares, if it’s unique? Doesn’t matter enough that I’m a maker, that I express myself with cloth and sewing and cutting and stitching?” Really helpful, right?

Back home, I began looking at Kevin’s designs again. In college we were encouraged to do “imitations” of writers, using their form in order to get the meter and the words under our creative nails, as a way of training up a writer. It was a form of limiting, giving us structure, but not letting us off the rails, so to speak. So I decided to allow Kevin’s form to give me structure. And I chose to limit my fabrics to a (delightful) bundle of Janine’s Uppercase fabrics, which I’d purchased at Market.

The first experiment (above) with Kevin’s work was almost an exact copy.

But the second quilt took off on its own.

The center cross morphed.

Somewhere in here, the experiment sparked an original idea. And when I quilted, I kept seeing more.

Crossroads, after Umaña • Quilt #166

Until finally, I’m here.

I won’t tell you what I wrote for Uppercase, because in a way, it’s really irrelevant to the idea of this particular story. What resonates is that challenge laid down in those words of the application, one that I think about to this day. I’m incredibly grateful to Kevin for allowing me to collaborate with him, and to borrow a little from his light when I needed it.

I’m also grateful to creatives who make fabrics for me to use, such as the excellent line shown in this post. All fabrics, with the exception of the solid white, are from Janine Vangool’s Uppercase Fabrics line. Yes, even the wee metallic letters in the sunglasses below, an echo of Kevin’s at the top of the post.

(Chuck Nohara block #345. Pattern for the Crossroads quilt coming soon to Craftsy.)

And finally, the cheesy way to close out a conundrum: let somebody else do the talking for you.

I narrow-mindedly outlawed the word ‘unique.’ Practically every press release contains it. Practically nothing ever is. (Fred Hechinger)

Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique and every man or woman’s foremost task is the actualization of his or her unique, unprecedented and never recurring possibilities. (Martin Buber)

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. (Margaret Mead)

Nobody can be exactly like me. Even I have trouble doing it. (Tallulah Bankhead)

When I saw Janine at Quilt Market, her booth was handing out free Uppercase Magazines. Since I’ve been a subscriber for several years, I mentioned to Janine that with the free magazine I could instead do a Giveaway on my blog, and she handed me another magazine, her fabric catalogue and the charm pack of her fabrics to sweeten the pot. ~~To enter, please leave a comment. Blog followers get double their chances (shameless promotion), but it’s not necessary to follow to win.~~

NOTE: Giveaway now closed. Thanks to all who entered.

˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚
And finally…

…congratulations to the winner of the Dresden Carnival book, Beth T, who wrote about making a squared Dresden plate block for her niece’s quilt. I’ve sent you an email and I’ll get that off to you this week. Thank you to all who entered. You have lovely Dresden Plate Memories!

Giveaway · Oh Christmas Tree QAL · Quilts

Oh Christmas Tree QAL • STEP 6 and Giveaway

July 2, 2016July 4, 2016 Elizabeth E.24 Comments

Today is Step 6 of our Oh Christmas Tree Quilt-a-Long (#ohchristmastreeqal), following a pattern by Wendy of FlyingFishKits and which was published in Simply Moderne issue #3, by QuiltMania. As always, we have an assist from Wendy of Wendy’s Quilts and More (blog) and wendyquiltsandmore (IG). Our hashtag on Instagram is #ohchristmastreeqal so look there for more ideas.

I’ve been keeping a log of the steps in the tab above, Oh Christmas Tree Quilt-A-Long, so consult that page when you need to find a post.

And yes, there is a giveaway at the end of this post, so have fun reading through the maze of red triangles.

Today is the Dreaded Border Problem. No, not that kind of border problem, but a QUILT border problem. To guide you through ~~all the blather~~ this longish post, I’ve broken it into 5 parts: 1) The Pattern and the Problem, 2) The Fix, 3) Construction, 4) Fitting it to the Tree, and 5) More Ideas.

The Pattern and the Problem

These were the inner red/background fabric border blocks, drawn to the measurements listed on the pattern in Simply Moderne. You can see the troubles already, right? None of them can play nicely together (that last shape is the dimension of the half-triangle, minus its diagonal line).

(from here)

Maybe the Metric vs. Imperial measuring system may have something to do with it? but I don’t know (and to be truthful, I just really wanted to use that image).

When I tried to subtract the seam allowances, and create the wedge piece for use at each end of the borders, it just got messier.

But never fear! Wendy informed me that the seam allowances were left off the triangle and the wedge piece, EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS THE SEAM ALLOWANCES ARE INCLUDED. She sent me photos showing a difference in the base of about 3/4″ across.

Which explains. . . a lot. Like a lot of you have gone ahead and cut out the triangles then got to a place like where Gwen did, when she noticed that they were too small! She eventually made more triangles to fit across the area needed. Leslie, another friend who was trying to make this at a retreat, emailed me with the same problem; she decided to stop until I figured it out.

The Fix

But before I knew about the news from Wendy, I had scrapped their templates entirely and made my own, which work fine (free templates for download are below). I compared my triangles to the revised pattern (now including) seam allowances, and mine are slightly larger by about 1/4″ total on the large triangle (1/8″ each side), but interestingly enough, perfect for the wedge triangle. So you have a choice: do theirs in their imperfections — first adding seam allowances — or, forget theirs and go with mine. You should know, however, using my templates will change the number of wonky stars you’ll make for the border, if that matters to you. The finished quilt photo is at the very end of this post, if you want to compare how mine turned out with the magazine’s photo. And Simpy Moderne’s link for the errata; it simply says “add seam allowances.” Okey, dokey.

I figured out my templates by starting with their lower border measurement, which just happened to be one that I could evenly divide by 3. So I redrew my triangles to measure 3″ across the bottom. Then I had to change the side border measurement to also allow division by 3. Here’s my working snapshots from my QuiltPro software.

These images show the measurements without seam allowances. The templates that you’ll print off (at 100%) include those pesky seam allowances.

So here is that link to a PDF file that has templates for the new triangles and corner block: OCT New Border Templates. To make sure you are printing it out correctly, the inside measurement of the cornerstone (w/o seam allowances) is 3.5 inches (or the entire square is 4″). Please print out only one copy for yourself. If your mother or friend want the pattern, please send them here to get it. Many thanks.

Construction

I cut three 4″ strips WOF: as you can see, the strips were big enough to accommodate the triangle pattern. I did flip it back and forth so was able to get about 10-12 triangles out of that folded cut per strip (I forgot to count). So, from three strips I had plenty. You’ll need 11 red triangles each for the top/bottom border, and 13 red triangles each for the side borders. Cut 12 whole background triangles and 2 smaller wedge triangles for each side border; top/bottom borders require 10 full background triangles and 2 smaller wedge triangles. [NOTE: I do show you two different ways to think about your placement; read all the way to the end before cutting.]

I put a double loop of painter’s tape on the back of my template so it wouldn’t shift while I was cutting.

I also don’t really worry about the outside edge of the template so much, instead focusing on lining up my ruler with the actual dimensions of the triangle. That way, if I accidentally trim off a bit of the template while cutting, the world doesn’t end. I’m paying more attention to the inside “actual triangle” shape when I cut, than to the triangle’s outer seam allowance line.

I’ve also learned to shift the fabric going up away from me (north-south direction) when I cut angles, shifting it slightly left or right as needed, so it’s easier cutting with less stress on my hands.

All lined up, ready to sew.

Since I cut three strips at once, I work with a stack of six red triangles and six background triangles, laying them out like this.

Line up the tip like this, then sew along the top edge with an accurate 1/4″ seam, shown here by the dotted line. Do your best to get that seam as accurate as you can, as you are working with a ton of seams here, and a little scoonch off at this point can yield big differences later. Having said that, I wouldn’t worry about it too much, as there are lots of ways to adjust these borders.

I stitched them in pairs, then pressed to the dark side.

Then I seamed two together, pressed again to the dark side, then built out my four different borders by combining these sets. Watch out–you will have an odd number so you’ll need to sew on just one red triangle at the end of each border, then sew on the smaller half-triangle shapes to make your borders. To reiterate, you should then have:
• two borders with 11 red triangles
• two borders with 13 red triangles

This is different than the pattern in the magazine. Sew a corner block on the ends of the 13-triangle (side) borders and iron all the seams to the dark side, as before.

Fitting It to the Tree

Find yourself a nice big flat surface, preferably with a grid.

Like a cutting board, or something (Why yes, I do work on my guest bed all the time). I smoothed out my tree, aligning the tree trunk on one of the lines (north-south) but quickly realized that even though I thought I had sewn the tree on straight on my background, it was slightly off (see the slope of the lower edge). You’ll cut the background 33 1/2″ by 39 1/2″ if you are using my templates. Please follow the measurements in the magazine if you are using theirs.

I was more concerned that the tree be upright and straight, so I continued lining up the tree trunk and the limbs with the grid underneath, then putting pins to anchor them straight.

Since I want the background to be cut to 33 1/2″ inches wide, I put the 16-3/4″ inch line in the middle of my tree.

If you have one of these hanging around the house, that’s even better. They are nifty rulers that allow you to find the center easily. Just line up the similar measurements on the outside (in this case, the 1-inch marks on the top edge of the Center-Finding Rule) and you’ll instantly find the center.

Mark the outside edges.

Now connect the marks. I also used the grid underneath to aid me, deferring to those lines, if I thought my marks were a little wonky. I measured the height of this rectangle (39-1/2″) and it turned out to be almost exactly two inches above the big circle at the top of the tree and the lower edge of my manger in my scene. (Lucky me!) I then used the grid underneath and the right angles of my big ruler to draw the top and bottom lines.

The idea is to draw yourself a squared-up rectangle. If you draw the lines at 33 1/2″ and 39 1/2″ then you can align the raw edges of your borders with those lines as you pin them on. BUT DON’T TRIM THE BACKGROUND YET!!

Of course, the best-laid plans often go awry. I’m a bit short here, but instead of stretching the border to fit (which I could do, since it’s mostly on the bias), I let it be a bit short. I’ll adjust the outside wonky star borders as needed. Sew on the top and bottom borders first.

While ironing this seam, I just realized that the red triangles should be pointing TOWARDS the Christmas Tree. I un-sewed, then re-sewed, all the while listening to this (30 hour!) book:

In this season of political intrigues, constitutional fights and jockeying for power, it’s been interesting to revisit the original story of political intrigue, constitutional fights and jockeying for power. Okay, back to the triangles.

Sew on the top/bottom borders first. Then sew the two sides, leaving the corner block seam areas unsewn. Press, then check them, THEN TRIM THE BACKGROUND FABRIC. After that, stitch the corner block seams.

Ta-Done!! It changes the look of everything to have this first border on, and now I can’t wait until I can get sewing the Wonky Blocks for the outside. I’ll cover that on our last installment of the QAL, including how to adjust in case your borders aren’t quite what you thought.

Betty, another friend who is doing this, was working parallel with me that day, and we talked back and forth as we worked. The big take-away is that I think this quilt is jinxed, has a spell on it. Or maybe it was because it was too hot:

At one point, nearly in tears, I called my husband and told him this pattern had gotten the better of me, and I wanted to chuck it through the window. So if you have this reaction, you are not alone. But carry on, it gets better. Betty’s quilt turned out like this:

(Isn’t that background fabulous?)

Here’s the kicker: she had to eliminate the wedge triangles from the two sides at the lower edge, where it joins the square. In fact, she had to cut those triangles in half. Her measurements are only 1/2″ different than mine, so that’s when I decided that with this pattern you have to:

Go Zen.

Oh yeah, that’s totally me up there, but only after I got the red borders on. Just let go of trying to make this pattern be a precise, precision-cut and sewn quilt, and just work with it. And by the way, Wendy from NZ was working with the “good measurements” from the original pattern and she still had a hard time getting the red border sewn. But like me and Betty — and soon, you — she did it.

Yes, she reversed her triangles, but when I commented on it, told me that she was all finished so they were staying that direction. I mention this to fit in with the theme of Go Zen. There are many ways to complete this pattern, and they are all charming. Keep reading for another.

Once you get here, you’re going to want to keep going and get the whole dang quilt finished off. So, instead of waiting a month for the next installment, I’ll give you roughly a week to get it on (and to get the cursing out of your system) and then I’ll pop up with the the final installment, where we Finish This Thing.

More Ideas

I first saw this on IG. She did it all in Kaffe Fasset fabrics (apparently, no wools anywhere), with a red/white checkerboard border and that she plans to hang it up all year long. This photo is from the IG feed from Linderella’s Quilt Works in North Carolina. (This is the advantage of tagging your photos!)

And then Janice of french75too (and a huge EPP enthusiast) sent me this picture that was posted on the Kaffe Fasset FB group. The quilt is by Susan Holman, who gave me permission to post it here. She also mentioned that she “had to cut the inner section a bit smaller” and also “re-drafted the stars to finish at 7.5,” as the depth of the border changed the dimensions.

Just ~~to torture myself further~~ for fun, I decided to think about how the quilt top would look if I used different end wedge triangle colors. Here are two pictures to illustrate what I mean.

This is how the pattern goes: small half-triangles made of the background fabric sit next to the corner blocks. The center triangle, in the top and bottom borders, is pointing exactly at the tree trunk.

In this one, the small wedge-shaped triangles are red, which means that the numbers are slightly inverted (10 full red triangles, instead of 11) and the points of the center triangles are on either side of the tree trunk. You get to choose. And because I promised you, here’s a look at my completed top:

This photo is showing number of triangles and the number of wonky stars (which we’ll do next time).

Here’s our updated schedule (can you believe we’ve been working on this since January??):

~~January 2nd, Step “prepare”: buy the magazine, books, gather your fabrics, buy the felt/wool, buy/find the pearl cotton.~~
~~February 2nd, Step 1: Make the tree on the background and stitch it down.~~
~~March 2nd, Step 2: Make 21 flowers.~~
April 2nd, Step 3: Make 10 birds and all the leaves.
May 2nd, Step 4: Appliqué down the flowers and birds.
~~June 2nd, Step 5: Scene at bottom of tree–make, then appliqué onto background.~~
~~July 2nd, Step 6: Sawtooth border (reds); sew together and attach.~~

July (sometime mid-month), Step 7: (finish up Quilt-A-Long): Make wonky star blocks, sew them together and attach border #2.

September, Step 8 Show and Tell, just in time for school starting again. Please send pictures of whatever state your Christmas Tree is in–whether it’s just the bones of the tree, of a completed top–we want to see it!

Since we are now winding down our Oh Christmas Tree QAL, I thought you’d like to have another project to start. How about some Dresdens? This lovely book, Dresden Carnival, written by Marian Gillian and Yvette Marie Jones, has sixteen different quilt projects using the Dresden Plate block in ways you never thought of. The color pairings are bright and fun and the settings will have you thinking about Dresdens in a whole new way.

To win a copy of this book, please leave a comment telling me what your best Dresden Plate block memory is–from that vintage quilt you saw in an antique store to inheriting a set of blocks from your aunt, to the colorful Dresdens now flying around on the internet (including the free EPP pattern on this blog). I’ll activate the Husband Random Name Generator and we’ll pick a winner.

UPDATE:

Well, my husband was reading intently, so I fired up the Random Number Generator and it picked a winner. See next post for more info.