When Pat and Jane asked me to be a part of the Splendid Sampler I immediately decided to use the Dresden wedge. 
The Dresden has always been my favorite shape and so versatile!
​My color palette is usually very different but when I received my fabrics I thought my little block needed to be more traditional. Once again I have completely fallen in love with hand stitching so I decided to quilt my block by hand.
​Its been so exciting to watch all the creative and beautiful blocks and quilts emerge from all over the world through the Splendid Sampler project. You ladies are really amazing!

I used the EZ Quilting mini Dresden ruler by my friend Darlene Zimmerman. They are made to work with jelly rolls as well so super easy to use and cut out.

At first I played around with the shapes to decide what I wanted to do but of course the circle won out! Hence the name of the quilt block "Circle of Friendship" just seemed right.

Also got to play with my favorite iron from my friends at Oliso! I actually love raw edges so I was very tempted to leave it as is. Please don't look too closely at a few of my wonky seams.... I did take them out and redo but forgot to take a new photo! Really!!!

Aurifil sent along some beautiful thread for me to work with!

Playing with the seam allowance will give you an open circle in the middle of your plate. I like to often use that trick to make different size circles with the same size wedges. Next I just folded under the raw edges and pinned to the background strips.

My stitches are not always perfect but I'm ok with that. I find hand stitching so relaxing so I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I's been hard to find a thimble that I really like so if any of you have a suggestion I would be so happy to hear it. You will occasionally see me with a bunch of band aids on my finger tips!

I hope you try my little block! It's super easy and so much fun!!! Come back to visit my blog so you can see what other fabrics I am going to use or look for me on Instagram under Michele Muska. Please request to follow me if you like.
​So happy I could share my block with you all!
​Michele

Now I am going to start sewing my DWR block together.
This quilt pattern has lots of curves and I've been told that lots of pinning is in order! I only wish I knew that before I sewed this piece together..... next time.

I sewed the 2 black squares onto each end of the arc

Here is how it looks from the front.

next, the melon is sewn in place. Here is where lots of pinning comes n handy.

The two arcs are joined together.

Next, sew the completed melon to one side of the center piece.

Sew on the 2nd melon.

Continue with the 3rd melon

Complete your ring with the fourth melon and your single ring is complete.

Lay ring on top of a piece of batting slightly larger then your circle.

The New York City Metro Modern Quilt Guild is having a Double Wedding Ring Challenge! I've never made a DWR quilt before and I was feeling a bit intimidated to say the least. But I have had a bit of help with all of the posts from the blog hop and with Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Quilting DWR template available at: www.simplicity.com
see the details and list of prizes here:
http://www.nycmetromodquilters.com/dwr-challenge-2/

So I picked out some fabric and got out my templates. Why don't you do the same and we will start together.
Come visit me weekly while I sew together my first ring!

Mushroom Barley Soup

I have been making this soup for years and love it. However, i am now searching for a yummy organic pre made broth or cube to use in it.

Recipe:
2 lbs of mushrooms of your choice (like baby bellas or a mixture)
sliced
1 large sweet onion chopped
6 to 8 carrots chopped
garlic powder, parlsey. fresh ground blk pepper, pinch of salt and bay leaf
8 cups water with veggie cube or broth
1 cup barley
sauteed everything except barley and broth till tender
add broth and cook on med low for an hour
bring to boil and add barley
reduce to simmer and cook another half hour

enjoy with some great bread, I'm serving it with a rustic cheese and blk pepper one today
bread like bacon... everying is better with it.

Working on my quilt "20" for The Quilt Alliance auction. It's our 20th anniversary.
20 wedges = a circle
20 orange stitched rings.
Will see what else I can add in that 20.