A First!

My first doll quilt.  Having raised boys (not the girls I wanted), I had little need for doll quilts.  When I began making quilts eons ago, those quilts were utilitarian....they did not need to be pretty or decorative, or anything but warm.  After all, I was making quilts meant to keep those boys warm during our cold, damp winters.

After the boys grew up and there were enough quilts to go around, the little sewing I did was mostly for myself.  I'd become a working mom and needed professional clothes.  I made a few quilts but the bug had not really hit.  Then one day I woke up with a beautiful quilt in my head.



I chatted with my mom about the quilt in my mind and with her encouragement, made a pretty quilt for my sister's Christmas gift.  That quilt was a fussy cut Dresden Plate which I called Sid's Dresden.  It was supposed to match the tableware she had purchased while stationed in Europe.  Turns out the colors I remembered seeing a year earlier were a bit off.  But the quilt was beautiful nonetheless.

Since then, I've made so many quilts I've lost count.  Most of those quilts have been big, queen sized quilts still meant to be put on a bed, but some were made for aesthetic reasons, others have been baby quilts.

But now I've made a different quilt altogether--I've made a doll quilt that is just meant to be pretty.

There isn't a doll to snuggle under it, but I have a feeling that with six grand-daughters, I should be able to find one baby doll.
Of course, there's a reason for the doll quilt.  I'm presenting fussy cut Dresden plates at our next guild meeting.  I do have one or two quilts that will serve to show how fussy cutting the wedges can make an interesting pattern in the plate.


Still, I want to show other ways to use the wedges.  I also want to show that although fussy cutting fabric can waste quite a bit of fabric, it's possible to use the waste to make something else.  To make this little quilt, I pinned the castoffs before cutting out the wedges to keep the stack together.  After cutting enough wedges for a large quilt, I cut small wedges from the waste fabric and made this quilt.  I've got additional wedges to use as flower petal appliques on a little dress for one of the granddaughters.  I'm hopeful that I'll be able to work on that dress tomorrow.

On a different note, I received my Connecting Threads order today.  I received their catalog last week and found that they were having a great sale on some of the solids that I like.  I wanted the stacks and jelly rolls, but they were completely sold out!  So, I settled for 1/2 yard cuts instead.  Poor me!   Don't you feel sorry for me that I HAD to purchase such large pieces to be able to take advantage of the sale?

Here are some photos of the fabrics I purchased.  I want them for applique purposes.  I really prefer solids for applique most of the time.

 Check these out!  I could not resist even though I was interested in solids.  The top one (I think) is called "Bayou."  Now you know a Louisiana girl can't resist that!

Yummy purples, oranges, and yellows.  One is called sunshine.....it's stunning.


















Blues for flowers and birds.  I have got to start using birds.  I see them in other quilts and they are always so cheerful.  That's a goal for this summer.  Remind me later if you haven't seen a bird in one of my quilts.





 These greens are for leaves and vines.  The greens are really much more saturated than they appear here, but I can't fix everything in my pictures.  I'm a horrible photographer, but you've seen my photos before, so it's not a surprise, I'm sure.

Of course, some of these are in two photos so that you can really see the contrasts.  There are 36 pieces in all, each one a half yard.  I really don't plan to use them for piecing, so half yard cuts are perfect.

What do you think?  Added to the stash, they will blend beautifully, but I'm seriously considering separating the solids and prints.  It's driving me crazy that it takes me so long to find the perfect piece of fabric.  I'm thinking that if the solids are separated but close by, I can save time by looking at a smaller stack when I want a solid for applique.

I'm sure that a new system will also make me nutty, especially having to reorganize everything.  But I'm about to have to move everything anyway, so maybe I'll take advantage of  the work and find a better system for my stash.  What do you do to make finding the right fabric less work?  I've read that other quilters sort by color and value, but I'm not that ambitious.  And though I don't want to spend an hour searching for one fabric, I do want an opportunity to stroke and touch and play with my pretties!

Okay, you know what's next: your turn.  What's your system?  Does it work?  What is the best thing about your system?  Share time!  Get to typing.