UFOs and Dorset Buttons

Three ufos have come back from the longarm quilter.

This quilt was made a few years back in a class at the Vermont Quilt Festival. It had been hanging in my closet waiting for me to quilt it. That wasn’t to be and I sent it to my longarm quilter who did a marvelous job with the quilting. I usually name my quilts but this one has not been named.

I didn’t make this quilt. The blocks were inherited from a friend who was a wonderful quilter.

The Shadow Quilt was made at the first and only quilt retreat that I ever attended. I had bought a layer cake of Easy Spirit fabric at Mardens. The layer cakes were cut in half and the sashing was cut before I attended the retreat. I could just sew. The top was finished there and was waiting for the long arm quilting.

I still have a lot of small tops waiting to be quilted. Maybe, I should go through them and send some out to be quilted.

In the meantime, I have been hand quilting the Amish Thistle. It is almost finished. One of the Dear Jane border blocks is pieced. It seems as if I never finish much in the sewing room. There are just a lot of starts.

I’ve been asked to design another Mystery Quilt for the Guild. I’ve finally decided what the pattern should be and have been making the quilt to see if I could divide it into pieces. The quilt will have 25 blocks. Twelve of the blocks are the same. The remaining 13 can be divided up into months. It is a simple 16 patch block which consists of squares and half square triangles. It’s very easy to make. All my sample blocks are made. I’ll put them together this weekend to see if I really like the quilt. Then comes the hard work of making the instructions. More on this later.

I saw a show on TV where Dorset buttons were made. They looked interesting. I sent away for an instruction book. The book came from England by Royal Post in four days. That was impressive. The procedure looked easy. The book said that one could be made in 1/2 hour. After a whole day, my first one was made and it was awful. I was very low on the learning curve. Four buttons later, I made one that was passible. Not good, but passible.

The next few were better. I’m finally understanding how to make them. Still on the learning curve.

Variegated thread makes a pretty button.

I made a bouquet of flowers.

A spiral button.

A rainbow button.

Making Dorset buttons is becoming fun. I haven’t made the half hour, but they can be finished in an evening. It’s instant gratification. I have a file in the computer with pictures of buttons that I might like to make in the future. There are angels, Christmas trees. flowered wreaths, lace edges, beads, and many different beautiful ways of making a button. I have so much to learn. Now, I have to figure out a way of displaying the buttons. I may even add the first few to show how far I’ve come.

Have a great day and happy quilting.