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-