In my last post I showed my thought progression in auditioning red and green circles for the center of my Dresden Neighborhood mini quilt. My final decision (or so I thought) was a green circle, which I really liked after adding a smaller red circle on top of it. Here’s a reminder of what that looks like:

One of my friends from Quilt Camp came out strongly in favor of red so I took another look. I still felt the red by itself was too bold but I hadn’t thought about placing a smaller green circle on top of it. When I did, I really liked it too:

Now I can’t decide which one I like better. Here are the two possibilities side-by-side:

(You will surely notice how different the background fabric looks in the two photos. They were taken on different days in the same spot in my sewing room, with weak afternoon light coming in a south window. Depending on the time of day and weather, the colors can look so different.)

I’d love to know which one you prefer!

The doors are on my wonky Dresden Neighborhood mini quilt:

I cut the strips for my doors a little taller than designer Kim Lapacek’s pattern calls for. That’s because my house fabrics are pretty busy and I wanted to tone down the prints with some longer strips of solid fabrics — or at least fabrics that read as solid. In fact, there’s only one solid, the true red.

The next decision? What to use for the circle that goes in the center. First I auditioned a scrap of the solid red:

I liked it but felt it was too strong. Maybe one of the red prints would work better? I cut a circle out of a scrap and stuck it on:

As much as I like this print (one of my favorites from Corey Yoder’s “Holliberry” line), it seemed to add to the busy-ness of the prints rather than calm them down.

Next I tried one of the greens:

Okay, this is more like what I had in mind. (And you shouldn’t be surprised. Green is my favorite color, after all.)

But then I wondered: how would it look with a smaller solid red circle on top of the green one?

Oh, yeah! I’m liking this a lot. As Henry Higgins would say, “By George, I think she’s got it!”

But guess what else I’m seeing? A big green button on top of the red circle. Maybe even a smaller red button on top of the green one. What do you think? Can you see it too?

One of the pleasures of working on a project like this is letting it evolve. Each quilter who makes this charming pattern (Dresden Neighborhood by Persimon Dreams) winds up with a unique project, totally subject to the whims and preferences of its maker.

Now that I have a plan, I’ll inset a red circle into a larger green scrap and turn that scrap into a circle so that I can applique it (by hand) into place. Then I’ll be ready to add the batting and backing and turn it into a quilt sandwich.

Working on this project is making me smile. Always a good thing on a cold and rainy January day!

Happy New Year, friends and treasured blog followers! I’m popping in to say hello and point out the stitching around the roofs on my wonky Dresden Neighborhood mini quilt:

It’s still under construction but you can see the rest of the neighborhood here.

I used a simple straight stitch to outline each roof, using my open-toed walking foot so I could easily see every stitch as it was being made:

The threads I used — light green, red, and medium gray — were chosen to blend with the roof fabrics rather than offer contrast. The effect is very subtle but gives the roofs in my wonky little neighborhood a nicely finished look.

Thanks for stopping by on this first day of 2022!

My Dresden Neighborhood homes now have roofs over their heads. I just finished fusing 20 slightly wonky roofs in place. But before I show you, take a look at the “before” photo, with the dresden blades attached to the background fabric:

Who doesn’t love polkadots?! I especially love them when they’re scattered randomly across fabric. They add an extra touch of whimsy, don’t you think?

Now for the roofs:

(That’s a circle of freezer paper in the middle, put there just to cover the raw edges.)

Next up: stitching around each roof. I used a heavy duty fusible on them so I’ll use a straight stitch around the edges of each roof rather than a decorative stitch. Doors and windows get fused on next. Hmmm, wouldn’t it be fun to use buttons for some of the windows? I have some really neat vintage buttons that might find their way onto the finished quilt . . .

Preparing to teach a class on this pattern (Dresden Neighborhood by Persimon Dreams) has given me an excuse to play in my sewing room. (As if I needed an excuse!)

Since this is my second version of Dresden Neighborhood — you can see my first one here — I’m going to try out some new ideas (buttons being one of them). As designed, this mini quilt finishes at 24″ square but I’m toying with the idea of making it round. To that end I cut my background fabric about 31″ square. We’ll see where that takes me after I’ve finished decorating the houses.

For crafters and quilters in the area who might be interested in my class, clicking here will take you to the class information page at Montavilla Sewing Center in Lake Oswego.