Greetings, Greetings, and Happy New Year FOR REAL!!! I am almost finished with the Crud that we picked up in Rockport. I have been trying to get my walking routine started again and was successful for 3 days until the Cedar blew in again on Friday! I will try again tomorrow if it is not raining. Hopefully this coming week-end the front that is heading our way from Canada will freeze the hell out of the Cedar and I will be able to start walking each day. I have the “lingering cough” syndrome so I will baby myself for today. After all, there are 2 great football games to watch and I will be working on my embroidery or my cross stitch projects.
It is difficult to believe that I have FINALLY finished the last UFO quilt top. I started this project around 9 August 2016!!!!! At that time I was attempting to do a Dear Jane, but after sewing 9 blocks (no – not paper piecing thank you) I decided to move on – maybe at another time.
Today I sewed the last of 121 buttons for the center of the Dresdens rather than the circles. I learned a few lessons on this quilt and here they are if anyone is interested in doing this quilt by Susan Marth.
Lesson Number 1 – I used a background fabric that really was not strong enough for the weight of this quilt.
Lesson Number 2 – I did not pay attention when putting the plates together – that means make sure that the center is small enough to be covered by a circle or whatever.
Lesson Number 3 – I should have sewn each row together, THEN I should have sewn the buttons on. I sewed the quilt top together, tried to sew buttons on which failed.
Lesson Number 4 – It takes time to do buttons. During the finishing process I had to rip 4 seams apart in order to easily sew buttons on. BIGGER MISTAKE!
I am so happy that this quilt is finished. I had made a deadline of yesterday, but was unable to work on the quilt Friday. I have no idea when, or if, I will ever quilt this quilt. I am thinking about putting a back on it without batting and call it done. There was a lot of time and effort put into this quilt so it will be stored somewhere in the meantime. I could probably tie the quilt (never done that before), or sandwich it and do long stitching with pearl cotton. We shall see. Any ideas – Going to be a heavy quilt to quilt in a hoop and I cannot load it on the long arm or the Z44! Whoopee fun and games!!!
Starting Tuesday for the month of February (my New Year will be starting) I will be working on Stars Around the Garden (just need to put the top together and applique some flowers on the border), Alaska with Kathy, and some other piecing projects. I may start an applique project, or continue with Mary Brown which has not been touched since last year. It will be fun to make a list of what I will be working on this year.
My Longarm Quilter and I will meet on the 14th of February. I will be taking 3 quilts to her to quilt and after those, there will be 7 more for her to do. I may just bite the bullet and start doing the long arm quilting on the 8 or 9 quilt tops that I will be doing. Also need to do some hand quilting. See why there is no schedule at this time??? LOL
York Lodge is 84″ x 99″ so I needed a 108″ x 108″ batik background. I was blessed to find Sew Batiks on line – she sells 115″ wide batik backing and I picked the perfect piece for my quilt! I will call and check on it tomorrow for delivery time. They manufacture their own batiks and the fabric is already washed – what more could I ask for? I ordered some extra fabric to take advantage of free shipping. It was expensive, but York Lodge took a long time to make and is a highly complex quilt and if Quilt Shows come back I might enter it.
For the games I will be working on my ‘Love’ Cross Stitch today while we are watching the games. Cross Stitch has become the ‘go to’ for real relaxation in the evenings.
Have a wonderful week, stay warm, and enjoy stitching!
Hugs, Nanette
Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party To-Do-Tuesdays;PHD in 2021;
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 
It sure is a lovely quilt.
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Thank you Labor of Patience LOL
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💃🏼🕺🏻👠💋👑👟💐🍾🎆 That just about covers it!!
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Yup Call it done
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Congratulations on a top finished. It looks amazing, so enjoy it. Maybe the long arm quilter will have much more joy and fun to quilt this one? Happy New Year!
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Thinking just doing a backing and call it a quilt
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Well done, this is a lovely finish!
Thanks for sharing and linking up 😉
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Thank you!
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It’s so pretty! Maybe your longarm quilter could help you out.. it’s too pretty to knot! I’ve knotted at lot of tops this one doesn’t fit in that group. Happy stitching while watching the games.😊🤗
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Think she would kill me LOL
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I love the Dresden quilt, Nanette! I think tying it would be great…for me, tying represents vintage, as do Dresden plates, buttons, and the fabrics that you chose. 🙂
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thank you Laura. I am thinking it will just have a backing (sew like a pillow case) and be done with it! Someone someday will enjoy it!
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Despite the issues, this quilt top is a beauty, Nanette. With my love of Dresdens of course I would love it. I checked it out at the link too. Glad to hear you are feeling better. It’s wonderful when you can feel like yourself again. You’ve got some great stitching to choose from for the t.v. time. Yes, I enjoy cross stitch too for real relaxation.
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Thank you Jocelyn! It is a labor of love, I should have done the circles, but I just let too many years go by and it was an old project and it no longer made me happy. I try to always have TV stitching! Someday I will be doing a quilt on my Z44 – not sure when! Maybe in my dreams. Hugs and stay warm. We are getting your cold air tomorrow! I look for ice!
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Where did you get York Lodge? It is a beauty. It deserves a Whoop Whoop. LOL
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York Lodge was in a Quiltmania book I purchased – I picked the most difficult one to make – The ladies were 2 new designers from Australia.
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Loved the ‘Heaven and Hell’ – It will be a heavy quilt to work – ugh – I am dizzy from the amount of projects you’ve got in your line up 🙂
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I have many more, but will condense them and make them fun projects and not “have to” projects! Hugs
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So glad the top from hell is done. We all have had at least one of those in our quilting lives. We always learn and hope not to repeat. Go to something fun now and enjoy. Games were good too.
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WordPress is driving me nuts! @@@@@@. I am glad it is done also and lessons learned. Fun and games are coming my way! Meniere’s settled down after a Tylenol and X! Hugs
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Despite all your troubles the quilt is beautiful, I love the buttons in the centers. I’m sure while working it at the time it wasn’t always a fun project but your end result is stunning.
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Hi,
Beautiful quilt….love Dresden Quilts and yours is so
colorful…have a great day!
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I congratulate you on the finish. It really is a treasure. Might I suggest just tacking it at the corners by machine. I agree that it is very weighty and will be difficult. Good luck!
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It looks cute as a button now, Nanette!!! Good job persevering through the pain of creating it!!!
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