Dresden Irish Chain Top Complete

Some powerful storms moved in last night,
leaving a rainy morning to follow.  A person could
sure get used to this weather--I'm ready for some very
colorful fall foliage!  

We'd only been home from NY for a few days when we
headed out to spend the weekend with our other DS
who attends Creighton in Omaha, NE.  With our
schedule and their incredible amount of snow up there,
we had only made it up there once last year so we made
it a priority to get a couple visits in before winter.

It's pretty wearing on me, this having to tell my kids
goodbye all the time, so I've been very ready to settle
in my sewing room and focus on something else.
Needless to say, the Dresden went together in no time.


Excuse its wrinkles but why iron?  Two seconds after taking
this pic, folded it up and put it aside till I find a backing.
(I don't see any need for a border at this time.)
It measures 84x84.

One of my next to-do's got moved up very quickly.
I guess that's fine because that's how things get done, right?
Instead of shooting for a due date in Dec, I'm now looking
at a baby shower date of Sept 14.  Add in that the long arm
is finally going in for its tune-up next week and it's
suddenly time to get things hoppin'.

Like Tigger maybe?
The mom-to-be likes Pooh so I had the grandma-to-be,
pick from an online search of fabrics.  This resulted in some
not-so-great fabric but it was available locally, aka, quickly.


I thought the antique-like tone of this fabric would make
it difficult to find coordinating fabrics that would be
cheery and youthful for a baby quilt so I hit the
road to a shop about an hour north of Wichita.
Somehow I have about an 80% success rate at
finding exactly what I want (and more <cringe>) in
their clearance section.


Well, up that percentage a little more!
(what IS it with this magical little quilt shop??)
These blue and green fabrics are perfect matches.
The ivory was regular priced but no surprise as I knew
I'd need to be picky on the background fabric.

Now, about that cringe-worthy "and more" thing...


This was a must-have.  So so pretty!
The kind of fabric I could stare at all day.
My sisters all agree so that makes it okay that
I bought all 5+ yards, right?
I was planning on giving the Dresden to the grandma-to-be
(because eventually all of my friends will have a quilt)
but now I'm thinking the above fabric would make the
coziest winter quilt for her so, we'll see.


Back to Pooh.
Eventually, I settled on some basic star blocks
with a chain block to alternate. 


In no time at all the star blocks went together.
Next up the 4 chains and maybe I'll even get this
little thing done today before hubs and I head out to
spend the eve with friends while we watch West Point's
football team beat Rice.  We don't want/have cable so
we might be spending some time at sports bars this fall.


While I love hanging out in this little small-town coffee shop,
rain makes a sewing day all that much better so off I go.
Besides, this bouquet has me seeing fall fabrics.
Happy quilting--and go Army!

Comments

Joyful Quilter said…
Please send some of your rain here. Thank you.

Your Dresden turned out very pretty and the Winnie-the-Pooh baby quilt is going to be adorable! Love the fussy cuts. I don't think I could cut into the winter fabric it is so pretty.
Debbie said…
Wow....the dresden quilt looks fabulous! I like the quaint fabric finds for the baby quilt. They are really classics. I often hate to do special requests and let non-quilters pick fabrics......they do not understand what it entails for a good mix. But this one turned out very pretty.
Your 5 yd fabric reminds me of the pretty panel prints I have been seeing at The Quiltedtwins website. Especially the old Red Truck one:)
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the dresden quilt! The Pooh blocks are cute, too.