I fixed a huge Easter dinner and Mr. NC did the meat on his Big Green Egg.  Here are some shots of the fruit buffet.

The sink full of egg shells were even pretty.  My daughter’s chickens lay colored eggs,  blue/green, white and brown.

They look much better in this form

A while back I wrote about my grandmother’s dresden plates that I found in her sewing.  Among the plates were the templatse she made from paper sacks and newspapers.

http://nonniescedarchest.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/inklingo-project-combining-old-and-new/

I couldn’t really decide what I wanted to do with them.  I knew for certain I didn’t want to appliqué 7-1/2″ centers to the plates.  I have been looking for redwork to put in the centers and found several options at local quilt stores and shows but the designs didn’t resonant with me at the time or the sizing wouldn’t work.  Additionally, some of the blocks don’t have red in them and although  I thought of doing blue work, the number of those designs were even fewer.

This past year I bought a new Bernina sewing machine that has an embroidery module.  I have never had the desire to do mechanical embroidery on my quilts.  However,  I happened to find a a designer that digitizes quilting designs for sewing machines.  In looking through her designs I found what I thought would be a perfect center for the the Dresden plates.

Here is a sneak peek or “first stab” at the idea as I am playing around with the stitching colors.

I will cut the background squares, embroider the designs, then hand piece the Dresden plates to the background.  As I mentioned last year, the edges of the plates are already turned to 1/8″ and basted.  Bless my grandmother’s heart!  I wish she were alive today to see the Inklingo way to do Dresden plates.  I can just see her giggling over the innovation.

Also with the dresden plates was a stack of flour and sugar sacks that would make excellent sashing or borders.   I have already planned out a whimsical border that will be appliquéd using them.

Simply stitching,

Charlsey