Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the Dresden Plate Blog Hop! I have had a great time visiting all the blogs and seeing the beautiful projects created by my fellow ambassadors. Our challenge this month is to create a lap or larger size quilt using the Dresden plate and the Summer 2024 fabric bundle we received in our Surprise Package!
Inside my surprise package was Misty Mornings, an Island Batik collection designed by Kate Colleran Designs. These fabrics are absolutely gorgeous!!
This beautiful collection is shipping soon to your favorite quilt store carrying Island Batik. Here are a few of them!
| Creekside Quilts | OR |
| Fabric Square | OH |
| JellyRollFabric.Net | IN |
| Middlebury Sew & Vac | VT |
A few years ago our guild hosted our national teacher via Zoom. That teacher was the wonderful Susan K. Cleveland. I’m a huge fan of hers. She did the presentation on her book, Dynamic Dresdens, and showed how to use her rulers to create all the wonderful quilts in the book. Should you have the opportunity to attend one of her classes, I highly recommend it.
Using the inspiration from her book, I decided to do several different Dresden plates she demonstrated. I included one that just barely goes off the edge of the quilt and into the binding, as you will see in the photo below.
Susan recommended using a rubber mallet to flatten seams, and it really worked well!! I am convinced everyone needs a rubber hammer in their studio! LOL Susan actually recommended “The Wacker Seams Perfect” but I purchased a package that had two sizes on Amazon and gave one to Chicken Legs so he wouldn’t “borrow” mine! Some good steam from my Oliso iron, then using the hammer gave me really flat seams. I can’t wait to try this on other blocks, especially those eight pointed stars and pinwheels!
Since Chicken Legs and I celebrated our 47th anniversary on Sunday the 10th, I decided to make this quilt to commemorate said anniversary by creating two intertwining Dresden rings. I named my quilt Always and Forever.
The background was pieced first and then quilted. The Dresden plates were then appliqued onto the background. I must say that was a first for me, as normally I quilt last! I really enjoyed making this quilt and playing with this beautiful fabric.
Quilt Stats:
Name: Always and Forever
Size: Approximately 53 x 65
Fabric: Island Batik Misty Mornings collection designed by Kate Colleran Designs. All 20 SKUs were used in this quilt.
Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt thread from my stash and an 80/12 Schmetz needle.
Batting: Hobbs Thermore. This is such a lightweight batt and quilts like a dream!
Quilting Motif: Let It Bloom E2E-3 from My Creative Stitches.
I hope you enjoyed seeing my project and please hop over to Denise’s blog at A Quiltery, to see her Dresden quilt using this same line of fabric. You can find the entire schedule for this blog hop HERE. And below is a link to each ambassador’s blog.
But wait – there’s more!! There’s still time to enter the Island Batik giveaway for a chance to win one of two fat quarter bundles – either Butterfly Haven or Flutter Fields designed by Jerry Khiev! Click HERE to see a recap of last week’s quilts and enter the giveaway!
Many thanks to these fine sponsors for providing the materials used in making this quilt!
Visit my fellow ambassadors for more Dresden Plate quilty Inspiration!
Renee Atkinson @ Pink Tulip Quilting
Tina Dillard @ Quilting Affection Designs
Connie Kauffman @ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman @ Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney @ A Quiltery
Susan Deshensky @ Lady Blue Quilt Studio
Brittany Fisher @ Bobbin with Brittany
Carol Stanek @ Stitch with Color
Sandra Starley @ Textle Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas @ Curlicue Creations
Gail Sheppard @ Quilting Gail
Preeti Harris @ Sew Preeti Quilts
Susan Michaels @ Dragonfly Fiberart
Connie Kresin Campbell@Free Motion by the River
Leah Malasky @ Quilted Delights
Lisa Pickering @ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher @ Pitcher’s Boutique LLC
Suzy Webster @ Webster Quilt
Mania Hatziioannidi @ Mania for Quilts
Kimberly Flannagan @ Kimberly’s Quilts
Kim Jamieson-Hirst @ Chatterbox Quilts
Brenda Alburl @ Songbird Designs (you are here!)
Thanks for visiting. Until next time… DresdenPlateBlogHop
DISCLAIMER: Some posts contain affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase items, I may receive a commission. I sometimes receive products from companies to create projects and may get compensated for it. Thank you for supporting my blog!
All tutorials, images and information are the property of Songbird Designs and are intended for personal use only. You may re-blog, pin, or share, with attribution to SBD. Thank you!
Hi Brenda, what an amazing quilt! I love the two intertwined Dresden block. When you quilted the quilt first, did you leave any blank areas for the Dresden appliqué or did you place them over the quilting? I’d like to try that out one day. Congrats on a great finish!
I love this quilt, and wonder, did you like the effect of the appliqué done after? It really is a gorgeous. Love that you bought 2 mallets, share the wealth (or keep your hands off my tools)!
What a gorgeous quilt! The intertwined Dresdens is such a meaningful symbol of your long-lasting marriage.
Happy Anniversary Brenda and wow, what a beautiful quilt!
Your quilt is beautiful. How creative to use several designs of Dresdens.
Did my first comment come through? Maybe not! Well, happy anniversary, Brenda! A beautiful way to commemorate it!!!
Happy Anniversary! I like your intertwined Dresdens idea!
Happy Anniversary! Your quilt is so pretty and I love the soft colors in Misty Mornings.
Your quilt is really beautiful Brenda and a very special way to honor your anniversary. I haven’t seen some of these blocks before—some very interesting designs that look really complicated. But they all look so pretty in these gorgeous fabrics. Thank you for sharing today.
Love the intertwined dresden plates and the quilt name to commemorate your anniversary. Great tip about the rubber hammer to flatten seams.
Your quilt is so, so pretty, and I how sweet that it honors your anniversary. I’ve never made a Dresden! LOVE Misty Morning, those colors are wonderful. Which mallet(s) did you purchase on Amazon?
Pretty sampler of dresdens.
What a beautiful quilt! So many Dresden styles in your quilt. What a nice memory quilt for your anniversary. I like quilting before adding applique as the applique stays flatter and doesn’t puff like it does when you quilt around applique later. Of course if you quilt through the applique, then it doesn’t really matter which comes first. I use a hammer all the time when making bags to flatten those thick seams and it really works! It’s a bag making trick I learned over a decade ago from ChrisW Designs. Whenever I test her bag patterns, she always mentions to whack those seams with a hammer, LOL! I tend to use the rubber or plastic head hammer.