Around and around

It's finally quilt weather!  I'm so excited.  I do love sleeping under a nice snuggly warm quilt.  No amount of fleece can ever make me feel better than that.  We knew it was time to get ready.  Here, the cold weather happens fast and I've been caught outside dragging tender plants around with my coat on.  So, both greenhouses are up and filled to the rafters with plants.  They're still open for the airflow, but can be closed in just a couple minutes.  I'll try to get a pic.  It makes me look like I have a much greener thumb than I really do. 

/And, when I wasn't working in the yard, I was working on this Dresden Plate quilt.  I got the rest of the medallions in.  There were 32 of them, including the 12 that I put in the block centers.  It became very apparent very quickly that the plates aren't round.  I knew that.  The backgrounds had become distorted by washing and ironing, so one plate might be closer to the sashing on one side than the others and at least one center is egg shaped rather than round.  It is what it is. 

I know that I'm going around each plate with a ring of feathers.  Feathers take three lines, so I've drawn in my three.  I'll add more lines for detailing, but these are the basic three lines and everything echoes off them.  The outer of the three is also the stability quilting that will keep the whole thing from shifting as I do the detailed quilting.  After these lines are quilted in, I can wash out the blue ink.  I don't like to leave the ink in too long.  I'm always afraid I'll do something that makes it hard to remove, even though I've used this ink for years in many quilts and have never had a real problem. 

The thing about the plates not being really round is that these circles also aren't really round.  They are custom.  The center of the sashing was as far out as I could go; I want the circles to touch there.  The inner circle outlines the plates along the edge of a line of echo stitching.  In general, there is a 2 1/4 space between and I drew a circle half way between.  But, that distance ranges from 2 to 2 1/4, so adjustments needed to be made.  I took a ruler and made a mark at a measurement that fit the pattern, adjusting as I went so it would LOOK circular.   Then, I joined the marks into a line.  One line at a time.  One after the other after the other after the other.  I thought I'd never finish. 

It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving week.  I bought a turkey and all the stuff to make the stuff that goes with it.  It just doesn't feel like it's time for the holidays yet.  Oh, well.  I just keep singing my version of the Dori song.  Just keep quilting, just keep quilting, just keep quilting.  And, in a few days, it will be just keep cooking, just keep cooking.  And, then it's back to just keep quilting, just keep quilting.

I'm thinking about doing Bonnie's mystery this year.  I love the color combination.  But, the thought of starting a new big project is daunting.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Maybe I'll save the pattern and make it later.

Everybody have a great Monday.  May your pies have flaky crusts. 

Lane