Dresden Plate Monster quilt

Well, after a concerted effort, today i finished the machine quilting on this monster... 

(You probably know that feeling where you've got so many different projects on the go that you just have to try to finish something!  It's been creeping up on me and I am going to try to get some of these projects finished off before the year end!)

I know that Ive blogged about this quilt quite a bit in the past, but its not very often that I tackle a king sized quilt, and this is the first one that I have ever done the quilting on.  it took a long time!   (plus I did it in add-on sections)

Anyway, even though there are puckers and erratic stitching, it is now ready for the last stretch, the binding.   I will need to go buy something for that, and I am thinking about going with a medium blue or that green thats used in the dresden plate locks..   It might come down to whatever is available. 

Maybe I will get this one done before Christmas! 

Dresden Pouch

A couple of days ago I was leafing through a book I have called Sew Gifts.  A few months ago I made a pencil-case from the book.   I decided that I was in the mood to sew another zippered pouch when I saw the Dresden plate one.  

It was an easy matter to zip up some petals--- i just used my handy dresden plate ruler and cut ny pieces from 2-1/2" strips...

I decided to sew an arc for each side of the pouch, using 19 different fabrics,

I also added in a layer of quilt batting to give the pouch a bit more body.

Not much quilting, just some pink hand-stitching to echo the shape, and a few rows of machine stitching in light grey.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out.   It was just the day for a quick and easy project. 

Dresden Plate Table Center

I made this little table Center last fall to show the colors we would be using for our block of the month program: the Saturday Surprise Sampler. 

Since then, several people have inquired about a pattern for it.  It is such a simple project that I thought I would just write a short tutorial for it.

It is basically one Dresden plate stitched down to a backing of felted wool.

I used my little Dresden plate ruler, which is an 18degree wedge ruler, from which you make 20 petals or blades to make up a circle:

There are other 18 degree rulers, like the squedge ruler which is a little longer.

 If you have a 15 degree ruler, you would use 24 petals to make up a circle

My little ruler is only 8 inches long, which would only make a circle 17 or 18 inches wide, and I wanted it a bit larger, so I just extended the side edge when I cut the pieces.

So, step by step, here we go..

1. Pick your fabrics!

The backing is felted wool, and that is probably the scarcest thing you will need, 

For the brown one above, I had an old wool blanket that I could use.  

For the one pictured here, I had purchased some off white yardage of 100% wool and washed it in hot water, and dried it on hot in the dryer to shrink it.   

I had been looking for a project to use the Bee My Honey fabrics by moda.

I decided to stay in the gray and white tones for this project,

2. Cut 20 wedges,

I cut the fabrics 12 inches wide and cut the wedges using the ruler:

You can see here how I combined it with my longer ruler to extend the side edge, extending the angle along the edge. 

Note: I used five fabrics and cut four blades from each fabric.   In the brown one above, each blade was a different fabric.  If you do it this way, you will need a 5" x 12" piece of fabric to cut the piece from.

2. Sew the ends:

Fold the long end over, backstitching at the folded end of the seam.  

Trim the corner at the folded end, and turn the point right sides out:

Press the ends, trying to center the seam.

3.  Sew the long edges of the petals, or blades together to make the circle, press the seams all to the sides, backstitching at the wide ends, 

The circular unit should lie flat!

4. You will need a piece of fabric to place over the centre of the flower.  It could be a square, a circle or another shape if you like, 

I decided to keep the bee theme going by paper piecing a small hexi unit! 

Cut a piece of wool for the backing with a margin of at least half an inch all around it.

  Pin the sewn unit to the wool and then quilt it down.  I went all around the edges first with a straight stitch, and then did some free motion designs, 

5.  After you are done, then trim the edges of the wool about an eighth or a quarter inch beyond the edge of the fabric edge, 

That's all there is to it really, I hope you give this project a try!  

 

Dresden Plate Ruler

Every so often, I like to play with my dresden plate ruler. 
I got one a couple of years ago, and it came with this cardboard cover and a paper pattern inside. 
I noticed the other day that now they are just packaged with the ruler, and not the pattern.

Good thing that it is so easy to use. 
Dresden plate blocks, and other designs that use wedge shapes can vary in the number of "petals" or wedges that fit into the full circle.
This ruler makes blocks that have 20 petals in a full circle.
A quarter block has 5 spokes, or petals in it, so I think that means that they are 18 degree angles. 
I made this little table topper with some of the fabrics that we are planning to use this fall for the Saturday Surprise Sampler program.  I decided to call it "Sticks and Stones".  It has lots of browns, beiges, ivory, and charcoal greys.

I was going to make a tutorial on how to use this ruler, but instead, I  found a really great tutorial already done on another blog called Quilt Expressions, here, so I don't have to re-invent the wheel. 

Putting new patterns to use

 I started to machine quilt on my bright quilt that features applique patterns designed by Sue Spargo.  (I suppose I should figure out a shorter way to refer to this quilt. )

 When I was thinking about how to quilt it, it occurred to me that it might be a really good opportunity to try out some of the free motion patterns that I just learned.

 The quilt has several areas that are large enough to do a different pattern in each spot, such as the vertical rectangles that have the dresden plates appliqued over them.
Here are some of the samples, and then where I was able to do them on the quilt:

 I discovered that with this one you have to be careful in those spots where the rounded ends meet each other so that you don't get little pushed together build-ups of fabric.

 pebbles and ripples:  I need to do this one again, with more ripples like in the sample.  It was one of my favorite sample patterns!

In the light pink barbell shaped area I put the arches pattern, although it is a bit hard to see,

 And in these areas,  I had a lot of fun...

 On the blue dotted area I did diagonal wavy lines using the dots as a guide,

  on the green dotted fabric, I put the fern leaf,

 and the light green pattern has the moon paisley design

I am learning a lot with this project, and it is actually quite a lot of fun to fill in different areas with different machine quilting patterns,

 I'm just using a variegated pink and orange 50wt thread, so the patterns aren't really too noticeable unless you really are looking closely at the quilt.  It is pretty densely quilted though, so it will be interesting to see how it looks after washing...
I'm linking up to the TN and TN website today, so thank you in advance if you have come here from that site!!
http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

An Work in Progress, and a new Project

This is the log cabin that I was working on some weeks ago.

I have now got it quilted!  It was sort of fun to do.  I did rows of feathers that run diagonally in the "furrows" -- I think this setting is called "Straight furrows". 

Not sure if the quilting shows up in this photo or not.  I used ivory thread on the light parts, and a variegated brown thread on the dark parts. 
This is the back of the quilt:

 I pieced the backing because I had enough leftovers, and also an orphan block.  It is somewhat appropriate for Valentine's Day!!

 I saw this design in a Japanese quilt magazine a few years ago and had to try to make one.  So I did, but then I didn't find a use for it until now.  I hope to get the binding on soon.....
I think I mentioned that I was planning to sew some dresden plate blocks out of my Pam Kitty Morning scraps--

 When I was chain sewing the ends of the spokes, the pieces started to curve into this beautiful fan shape!

 Then I got distracted from this project.  I wrote up a new setting for 12 inch sampler blocks, and lo and behold, if it didn't prompt me to get out the rest of the blocks I had made out of the Art to Heart fabrics last year.  I started to play with them on my "design wall" and have now decided that I need to do some machine applique to combine with them!  I'll keep you posted on that!