My Favorite Quilt- Meadowsweet Dresden

I've been enjoying the "My Favorite Quilt" series on Sew Mama Sew. It took some time to decide on my personal favorite, Meadowsweet Dresden.  

Tell us about your favorite quilt. When did you make it? 
I was surprised to discover that it is already three years old, completed in March 2011.

What do you like best about the quilt? 
I still love everything about this quilt, especially the fabric by Sandi Henderson.

How did you grow as a quilter while making it? 

I stretched myself with the quilting and it took an entire retreat weekend to complete. The background fill took forever! I used some quilting designs I hadn't tried before. Perfect? Not by a longshot, but I'm proud of it.

Have your shown it at any quilt shows or entered it in any contests? 
It was entered in the Ninigret Quilt Guild show in 2011 and won a 2nd place ribbon for Mixed Technique (applique, piecing and embellishment).

Where is the quilt now?

It hangs on my kitchen wall during spring and summer months.

Hop on over to Sew Mama Sew to check out more favorites and to add yours to the linkup. (There's a link up on each favorite quilt post.)

Chevron and On

 I forgot to show you a lap quilt I finished at the beginning of December. I had hoped to sell it at the craft fair, but it came back home with me. It might show up in my Etsy shop soon.

I started this quilt on July 1st, day one of Pat Sloan's Sew Every Day challenge. The top was done on July 4. It sat untouched for five months.

Don't you love Julia's Hobbit feet?

I quilted it simply and machine stitched the binding. The backing was a piece I picked up at Hobby Lobby in July. I'm not really a fan of the crinkly, post-washing look, but there it is.

Chevron and On

Started 7/1/13

Completed 12/5/13

Pattern found in the March/April 2013 issue of Quilty

Fabrics used: leftover layer cake squares of Meadowsweet and assorted solids

Finished size: 48" x 64"

My First Blue Ribbon!

Woo hoo! I'm a little excited, can you tell?

Nonna's Garden earned first place for Best Piecing. All those tiny English paper piecing stitches paid off!

Meadowsweet Dresden won 2nd place for Best Mixed Technique! There was stiff competition in this category. The first place was also Best of Show. (I hope to show you that one tomorrow.)

I brought my mother to the show today, and I had kept the ribbons a secret. We both teared up a little when she saw them. Awww.

Come on down to the Westerly Armory for an awesome show! We'll be there for two more days, Saturday and Sunday, 10-4. See you there!

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I'm a little late to the party, but I'm happy to include an entry in Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

I completed Meadowsweet Dresden in March. It brought together a bunch of things I love: Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet line, Kona Snow, Dresden plates and ric rac.


I really enjoyed the piecing process, then spent an entire weekend of a quilt retreat quilting it.


There is a lot of thread in this sucker!

I used some of the scraps for the strip on the back.

And I keep using scraps!
This table runner was included in a raffle.

These pouches were made for the Pretty {little} Pouch swap.
The smaller one was too small for my partner's needs, so I get to keep it!

I still have this luscious pile of selvages.

Thanks for stopping by!

Now, off you go! Click the button to see hundreds and hundreds of amazing quilts!

Pouch in Progress

Yup. It's bag week! Today, I'm working on a piece for the Pretty Little Pouch swap. I can't get enough of these Meadowsweet scraps, but they won't last forever. I'm going to try adding a small zippered pocket on the front left and then the main, bigger pocket will be zippered, too.


The little hexie flower will be on the front and the partial Dresden will end up on the back. I'm still moving other fabrics around and trying to figure out how to set the zippers. I think the fabric is perfect for Spring. I hope my partner likes it!

Springtime Dresden

I'm so happy to show you the perfect springtime quilt! This is my Meadowsweet Dresden. I actually finished it a month ago, but I needed to wait for just the right Spring day to post about it.

It is made from a fat quarter collection of Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderson that I bought from the Fat Quarter Shop a year ago. I used a dresden ruler that works great!

I brought it outside for a photo shoot. I tried and tried to find a place to hang it. A tree branch, swing set, neighbor's fence. Nope. It ended up on the ground near a row of daffodils that need a few more days of warm weather to bloom.

I love it so much, I couldn't stop snapping pix! Here you can see the quilting designs I used. I spent the entire weekend of quilt camp machine quilting this baby.

Laying it out on the ground was probably the best choice, since you can't tell how not flat it really is. As it's been hanging, it seems to be straightening out, but it really should be blocked. If I waited to block it and for the daffodils to bloom before showing you, you'd be waiting another month or more!

I will be buying a new camera soon, so I can play with lighting. Even with hazy sunshine today, there was so much light on all that white fabric, when I focused on the daffodils, the quilt got completely washed out.

Focus on the quilt, and the plants go too dark.

Here's the back with a green solid and a row of coins.

I love the quilting on the Dresdens! The swirly fill was labor- and thread- intensive!

And here she is, hanging in my Spring-green kitchen.

Happy Spring!

Sew Modern Monday

I could have shown you this table runner a couple of weeks ago, but you know...
Cookies!


My quilt guild used to meet at the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center. They recently had a fundraising event and asked for items for a basket raffle. Our guild donated a basket full of table runners and table toppers for each month of the year. One member is an expert basket maker, and she donated a gorgeous basket. Other members made and donated the runners and toppers.

This is the runner I made from leftovers of Meadowsweet. It is a knockoff of the Lil' Twister pattern. I don't own the acrylic template (yet) so I made do and cut out the squares with scissors.

I wish there was more contrast between the different prints, but I used what I had and this is what I got. It's fun and springy and I hope our basket earned lots of money for the PNC.

Please click on the button to visit more modern quilty goodness!

Think Spring Giveaway!

I'm having a quicky giveaway!


5" charm squares of Meadowsweet!
There are 23 of them.
(I know, weird number, right? Well, that's what I've got left over from the Dresden.)

And maybe an extra goodie or two thrown in!

Leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about Spring
and I'll pick a winner on Tuesday, March 1st.

Easy!

** OK, the hard part seems to be making sure I can reach you if you win. If you have a google profile, click here for intructions. If you don't, you can create one. It's easy and free. If you don't want to, you will need to leave your email address in the comment. To avoid spam, you should probably replace the @ and . with the words at and dot, like this: tinastitches at gmail dot com. **

WIP Wednesday

Welcome to another installment of

Work In Progress
Wednesday!

The baby quilt top is complete and has been added to the top of the "to be quilted" pile.

Also to be quilted:
Zig Zag Friends

This will be included in my Modern Quilting Lecture to demonstrate how the different designers play so nicely together! Lots of boys here: Kaffe, Philip Jacobs, Joel Dewberry. Some girls, too.

Sugar Wave
New Wave pattern with Sugar Snap fabrics.
Or maybe New Snap? (not)


Meadowsweet Dresden

I thought I would love this most of all, but I should not be allowed to set blocks on point. Ever again. See the wrinkles in the corners of the blocks? Boo.

The last two Saturdays, I was helping out at Girl Scout sewing workshops. My friend Carolyn and I didn't help plan them, but were called in at the last minute to cover. So we were stuck with patterns we would not have chosen for 10 year old non-sewists.

Here are my samples of the bag (Simplicity 5151)
and doll's sundress (Oliver & S).

Definitely cute, but a lot of work to try to complete in 2 hours with 16-20 girls and only 3 or 4 machines. It took us 3 hours both weeks. Everyone went home happy!

The annual amaryllis!
This year, we have 3 flower stalks!

Visit Freshly Pieced for more WIPs!

WIP Wednesday

I'm so excited to share my Work-In-Progress!

Meadowsweet Dresden


I love it so much!
I'm even happy with the machine applique. I needed to finish it in my lifetime!
I will be buying more ric rac tomorrow so I can finish the top.

I had been hoarding my stash of Meadowsweet since last February!
My stack of 30 luscious fat quarters...


has been reduced these amazing leftovers.

A layer cake for an upcoming project.
A charm pack (to give away?)
And the most amazing pile of selvages!
Do you see how they are all printed in different colors? Awesome!

I'm linking to

Have a sweet day!