Friday, July 31, 2015

Shifting Gears

 When I was learning to drive,
many decades ago,
I loved practicing shifting gears in my family's 
red standard pickup truck.
It was fun to drive.
That is until you got stopped
at the traffic light in the center of town, 
especially if you were coming up the hill 
on Center Street, you know,
just up from the bowling alley.

Foot on the brake,
foot on the clutch,
and a foot on the gas.
Wait...
that means three feet.

That's when my mom would come to my rescue.
She would slide over on the front seat
and add a foot to help out.  
We would laugh and
hope no one was right behind us.

So I learned way back when
that shifting gears
can be exciting and that's
exactly what I've been doing this summer.

Summer is full of color and
bright light so I've
been working on my Dresden Plate 
inspired by Kathy Doughty
and her book
Material Obsession,
Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots.
Everything has been cut out and sewn
for a couple of months.

 Now it was time to get back to it.
Using Roxanne's Basting Glue
 each ring was positioned on the background and
then lightly glued.
The seam allowance on the center circles were
painted with starch and pressed over using
a freezer paper template.

The applique has been easy
with all of the seam allowances
folded under.
I did have to figure out
 what thread to use because of all the different fabric petals.
I didn't want to keep changing thread colors.
So I finally decided to use
a light gray, Superior Thread,
Bottom Line.
The thread is so fine that it
basically melts into the weave of the fabric and
becomes invisible.

 I used a red Aurifil
which is nice and thin too, for the centers.

A few more sections to stitch together,
 a few more red circles to applique,
and I'll be ready to shift gears again.

Until Next Time-





16 comments:

  1. Your Dresden plates on that background are gorgeous!

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  2. We are two peas in a pod...I made this same quilt a few years back. LOVED it!! I gifted it to a 'young' friend who has Down Syndrome...well turns out she hated black...instead of the white and red background I used black with white dots.:o(( She told me she might use it when she was sick but it was not going on her bed. I offered to make her another but her mom would have none of it! She was mortified...Said she would talk to her after the party...anyways it all turned out well in the end! She ended up liking it and it went on her bed! Live and learn...not everyone likes the colours you pick!! Yours is GORGEOUS...and I know how much work this is! :o)))

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  3. I love the way you used the reversed red & white polka dots! What a fun, cheerful quilt! I have a Dresden plate quilt on my bed and would like to make another one someday - maybe one with more blades this time - I think mine only has twelve. Is there a special recipient for this quilt? We're leaving on vacation tomorrow and I wish I had a project like this to work on while traveling....

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  4. Your blocks are fabulous! I love all the polka dots. It will be fun to follow your progress with this quilt. I enjoyed your shifting gears story too :0)

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  5. Love those polka dots so much! Very fun.:)

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  6. Shifting gears! When we were newly married, in the early '70s, we had a truck you had double clutch to change gears, clutch in to take it out of a gear, then clutch in again to put in the next gear. That was a learning process for me! Love your Dresdens and their polka dots!

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  7. A very happy creation, Kyle.
    As always, a well written post. : )

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  8. Great blocks. A friend of mine who does alot of applique uses grey silk thread for all her applique. Light, medium or dark according to what colour fabric she's using. Like Bottom Line it melts into the fabric and you can't see any of it.

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  9. Oh wow ... I just love your Dresden Plates ... even the modern ones (which surprises me as I'm totally a traditional kind of quilter - ha!). I love the reversing polka dots for your backgrounds and centers on the traditional Dresden Plate ... I need to remember that when (if?) I get to my Dresden Plate. ;-)

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  10. Lovin' those polka dots Kyle. It looks like you have shifted into a 'gear' that agrees with you!

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  11. Gorgeous dresden plates, love the red polka dot backgrounds and centres!

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  12. Fun blocks and colors!
    I love driving a stick, it's come in handy on more than one occasion...

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  13. Beautiful blocks, I love Dresden plates and your's are wonderful!

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  14. This is just stunning Kyle.....I've never made a dresden plate but it was one of my grandmother's favorite patterns. blessings, marlene

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  15. what a happy happy project! I love the dotty fabrics :)
    don't you love appliquing folded edges - what a dream
    Can you still get stand shift cars? I wonder

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  16. I made a Dresden Plate quilt top a few years ago. I changed thread to match the different petals. What a pain!

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