Every blog post I've read today from the quilters in the states say the same thing. IT IS SO HOT!! Here in Philadelphia area, or at least where my apartment is, it is 101 degrees, or 38 degrees celsius for my quilter friends and allies across the pond. It is too hot to do much at all outside, and this is coming from a woman who lived in the sub tropics for almost 20 years. I've lived up North for 2 years now and I'm afraid my blood has thickened too much to deal with this heat as I once did. But when I look at the weather map, it's actually cooler in the tropics.
So inside I stayed, where I practiced appliqueing circles by machine. The more I practice this, the more I am convinced that the type of machine stitches you have available decides your success. I have better control when I hand sew circles. If any of you out there who doesn't own a fancy machine but has success sewing circles, please blog about it with photos so I can see how you do it. I don't have a good blind stitch, so please share if you have a way to make it look great with a top stitch or zig zag. By the time I got to the third, outer circle, I caved in and went back to the standard, hide the bodies satin stitch. I would like to learn past that.
Anyway, since my sewing room faces southwest, it is now too hot to sew. But before I finished in there, I sewed a Dresden within a Dresden for my block swap partner for July, Marina, in the Netherlands. Marina graciously allowed me to sew anything I wanted, as long as it was purple. Thanks Marina, I just bought a Dresden ruler and wanted to try it out. I love the Dresden design, and now I love purple. I'll be sending this your way on Monday. I go now to baste Laura's quilt to begin the next to final step towards completion.
I love the Dresden plate - the colours are so restful. We have record rainfall and cool temps in the U.K. - a little of your heat ( just a little) would be nice. My machine can be persuaded to do a decent bling stitch with a little perseverance but I have used invisible thread for both zig zag and straight stitch with some success in the past.
ReplyDeleteThanks Annie,
DeleteI learned so much making this block. I like how the deep purple adds so much depth. It's funny you mentioned the weather in the U.K. My niece is spending her summer in London as an intern for her degree in fashion merchandising. She goes to college at University of Florida in Tallahassee. I don't even think she owned a jacket before, let alone a pair of slacks! She must have gone shopping or borrowing because for the first time since she was maybe 6 years old, I saw pictures on her Facebook page wearing both.
Very nice Dresden block. I know a few other ladies that would love it, mostly because it is purple. If you want to drive up my way, we could sew in my AC'd studio and have a blast. Intersted?
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