Reproduction of a Reproduction Quilt - Part 2

Hello, Friends!

Today I'll wrap up my story about my 

Aunt Grace Through the Year quilt.

Quilts, actually.

I loved this one so much that I made it twice.

You can read about the first quilt here,

and the second one here.

Do you love chain piecing?

{Thank you, Eleanor Burns, for teaching me how!

My mom doesn't even sew, but she went with me to a

Log Cabin Quilt in a Day class when I was in college.
To this day, I use lots of the information I learned from that class!}

Here's the heap of Dresden blades I made,

using chain piecing.

Never fear...here's how they look when they're untangled!

Here's my happy place...

stitching the prepared blades into pairs.

The plates look positively yummy in a stack.

They're super sweet when they're fanned out, too.

Each plate represented one calendar month.

Fortunately they don't take nearly a month to create!

I fussy cut the center circles, to show off the theme for each month.

My sewing machine has a great blanket stitch

for the applique step.

I chose to use neutral thread for every block.

I hope I'll make another Dresden quilt someday...

if only to take the glamour shots using a pretty cake plate!

I think that's my favorite subject to photograph!

If you liked this quilt, you might also enjoy

the post about my Winter Dresden Quilt being stitched together...

and the post about the finished Winter Dresden Quilt.

Stop by again any time!

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Reproduction of a Reproduction Quilt - Part 1

Hello, Friends!

Today I'm sharing a story

about a quilt I made a long time ago,

relatively speaking...back in 2003...

using reproduction fabrics called

Aunt Grace Through the Year.

I posted about my Aunt Grace quilt here,

and one of my readers contacted me to ask

if I could reproduce my own quilt for her.

She had all of the required fabrics...

she'd saved them with the intent of making her own quilt.

She decided she would love to have me create a new quilt for her, 

just like the one I'd shown on my blog.

I agreed to this arrangement,

because I really loved making this quilt the first time around.

Having those exact prints available

made it easy...no scavenger hunting to find OOP and rare fabrics.

This was an unusual challenge...

I had a few things to overcome, as I made this version.

1.

I didn't have a pattern for my first Aunt Grace quilt!

It took some "trial and error", but

eventually I was able to make my template

for the little Dresden plates,

so that they would finish at the proper size.

2.

My first quilt was hand-quilted...by me.

Initially, we had agreed that I would hand-quilt

this one as well.

Oh, boy...what a difference 13 years makes!

I tried to hand-quilt this, but I seem to have

lost my knack somehow!

I.Could.Not.Do.It.

I looked at the 2003 quilt and could barely

believe that I'd done all of that quilting by hand.

Now, in 2016...I couldn't seem to get that needle through all of the layers,

no matter what tools and needles I tried.

There had to be a solution...

here I was with this nice quilt top,

and it just cried out for me to machine quilt it.

We agreed to this drastic change in plans...

and in practically no time, 
I was finished with the machine quilting.

I have to say that I can't decide which one I love most.

The hand-quilted one is wonderful for sentimental reasons.

It reminds me of a place in my creativity where I used to be...

and will probably not be able to visit again,

except through projects like this one.

I get an equivalent sense of pride from the newer,

machine-quilted one.

Thirteen years ago, I could never have made THIS one.

I'm happy that my friend Kathy reached out to me,

to see if I might travel back in time

to recreate a quilt I've loved for a long time.

It was super sweet of her to let me

put a little bit of 2016 into this reproduction quilt, too!

I plan to put up another post soon,
with some photos of the making of the new version.
I think you'll enjoy them...here's a taste!

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Big Finish - Winter Dresden Quilt

If you've stopped by my blog before,

or followed me on Pinterest...

or Flickr...

you may have caught a glimpse of my

Winter Dresden quilt in progress.

I joined the Bunny Hill Scrappy Plate Club

way back in January.

{Uh-Oh...I think I was supposed to have a finished quilt by...March 2012.}

I had the wisdom and foresight to make mine a Christmas-y/winter quilt,

so I set a goal that was more my speed...

to finish it in time for Christmas.

{I did it!}

This quilt was soooo enjoyable to make from the free pattern by Bunny Hill.

I had the most fun stitching the Dresden plates,

and I've got a couple of extras for making some matching pillows.

But for now,the quilt is just right for snuggling on the couch

with my little dog, Ginger.

I've had a few questions about how I quilted mine.

I use my regular sewing machine - a Pfaff 2040

that I've had for about 12 years.

I use spray basting to hold my quilt sandwich in place.

I almost never start quilting the same day as I spray,

and I don't have issues with the needle getting sticky.

I use the time-honored "fluff and stuff" technique.

I just focus on quilting the area under the needle,

not worrying about all the rest of it.

The first step is to stitch stabilizing lines,

in the ditch, with matching neutral thread...

along every border and sashing line

vertically and horizontally.

That leaves the blocks and the borders ready for

more creative free motion quilting designs.

I switch to invisible thread at this point,

so I don't interrupt my favorite fabric prints.

I made a petal design on the blades of the Dresden plates.

Then I stippled the centers and around each plate for every block.

{It didn't take that long, and I love how it looks on the back.}

For the skinny border, I just made a wavy line.

For the corners and the centers of the outer borders,

I drew a holly design, then traced it onto some Golden Threads paper.

I made 8 layers of the paper and stitched the design
on the whole stack at once,

with only the needle...no thread...to mark the pattern.

{See the holes making the design on the left?}

Then I laid the paper with the design on top of the quilt and stitched away.  

When I was done, I patiently picked the paper off.

{Yeah...right.  I had some tweezers, which helped.}

It doesn't show up a lot, but it's my favorite part.
Here is a view of the back.

To finish the border, I added my OTHER favorite part...

lots of free-form feathers.

{The Scrappy Plate Club pattern used scalloped edges,

but I kept mine straight instead, since this is a lap quilt.}

I like the binding print, which matches the skinny border.

I am just delighted with my new quilt, and the fond memories of 2012.

Linking up to Sew Well Maide's
TGIFF Linky party!

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