Mini-Dresden and Temperature Quilt Update

 Thanks to previous blog records, I can say with certainty that I've been working on this project now for two years.  Almost exactly two years.  Started it in April 2018.

I decided to count the finished plates.  There are 185 plates in total.  I hadn't counted them before.  I'm not sure I should have counted them.....

Only 30 are appliqued.  OK, actually 29.25.

The truth is that I don't do a lot of sit and stitch lately, so I'm trying to be more deliberate about working on them when I am sitting in front of TV.

Last week when I was trying to organize projects and do some cleaning up, I went ahead and cut (all?) the background squares.  Applique on!

Hopefully our trip to Florida will happen - lots of car stitching time.
Hopefully.......

Some helpers getting a photo of the Temperature Quilt.  It was too windy, otherwise.  Here I am showing through April 13.  I've switched to a green background for Spring.  I believe it is Kona "Pear"  At the top you can see one day with yellow/orange.  That was our outlier of 79 degrees!

Mini Dresden Progress Update

Hello!

I have spent the late spring, all summer and early fall working diligently on my Mini Dresden English Paper Piecing Project.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I keep updated with the plates as they are finished, but today I thought I'd talk a bit about the process.

I talked about the beginning some in this post - and will probably repeat some of that info here, too.

I start by using my Silhouette machine to cut out cardstock papers of the petals/wedges.

It takes 12 papers to make a plate, I've got 100 plates done, so I've used at least 1,200 papers. That doesn't include the basted wedges that haven't been sewn together yet - so probably towards 2,000 papers at this point.  So glad I can make them at home.

In my first post I showed you the box of "squares" I was working with.  Here's a photo of what's left:

That stack in the upper left is all the same fabric.  It will not all get turned into wedges.  In fact, it may end up in the fire....

So, I just lay out my wedge.

Trim off a bit of excess fabric.

Use one of my tiny paper clips to hold the fabric to the paper. 

Here is a bunch, lined up and ready to baste.  I am not actually basting to the papers, but am basting in such a way that the thread will not have to be removed.  

 I bring them pretty much everywhere.  You just never know when you are going to have waiting time. 

This picture was a couple of weeks ago.  I just wanted to see them all at once.  I am totally embracing "more is more" 

 When I have a set of colors basted, I organize them by fabric and number.  Above is anything less than six.

 These are the sets of 6 that are not yet sewn.

 My last two assembled plates.  The above bothers me a bit, being half and half, but I will probably leave it. These are numbers 99 and 100.

 I plan on appliqueing onto a scrappy neutral background. The biggest decision right now?  The fabric choice for center circles.  Navy? Cream? Black? Brown?  Change it up for each one?  Definitely a long way to go before I have a finish.

 My finished stacks.