Finally I finished this Dresden Plate quilt made using various Bonnie & Camille fabric lines;
Vintage Picnic, Ruby, Little Ruby, and Handmade. This was started in March, intending to be my Spring quilt. Then my son got married and my other son was called on a mission and so I didn't get it finished until Sept. But that's okay, because now its ready for the Coming Spring!
Here are some of the details. I machine pieced the Dresdens together, then hand-appliqued them to my background fabric. Making these was much easier than I anticipated. In fact I'd like to make another Dresden plate quilt sometime it was so enjoyable. I don't mind hand-applique either. Its relaxing and slows down the pace of life which I need in my constantly on-the-go brain. What I really liked about doing it this way is that it allowed the plates to POP off the quilt, giving it more of a three-dimensional look without any added work.
Then it came time to quilt it. My first attempt was a big FAIL so I had to unpick it and start over. I had chosen to quilt the centers first but that made the white space between them pucker.
SO, on the second attempt, I got out my walking foot and sewed straight lines in a diagonal pattern. Some have asked how did I get them so straight? I used washi tape down the very middle and quilted along side it, then just went back and forth in sections on both side of that initial first line until it was all done. The washi tape didn't stay on long, but long enough for me to create that first line. I was glad it was so inexpensive and left no residue on the quilt because I threw it away when I was done using it, but it served its purpose so well I would gladly use it again.
On the Dresden plates themselves, I only stitched an X in the centers and made little scallops around the center on the plates all the way around. I do Really love the plaid centers on each of these. Its just a really fun group of fabrics to play with.
It fits nicely on my railing where I like to display my quilts seasonally and you can see it from both sides. The border is also a Bonnie & Camille print, with a Bonnie & Camille basics - coral stripe -binding. I forgot to take a picture of the back, but its lime green from the Handmade line. Today marks our first day of snow in my neighborhood. I like the changing of seasons and Love Fall, but this makes me excited for when Spring returns.
