Dotty For Dresdens

It wouldn't be October if I didn't whip up something Ghastly!  Since I've been on a roll with the Dresden plates I decided that was what was missing from my Ghastlies collection.

I'm out of practice so I didn't remember to take pictures of my process.  This is another one made using the Easy Dresden Ruler by EZ Quilting.  I dug thru my stash of Ghastlies and Spellbound and chose a mix of fussy cuts and all-over prints for the wedges.

I wanted this to match my Ghastly Beauty pillow so I stuck with the same background fabric and again used Aurifil's Lana wool to quilt it.  I love the extra dimension the chunky thread adds.

It's been awhile since I did a zippered pillow cover so I needed to review my favorite zipper installation tutorial by s.o.t.a.k handmade.  Still the best one out there!

And here are the Ghastly siblings together.  I feel like I did a better job using fabrics that contrast on this one.

  And now we have a Ghastly entrance ready for trick or treaters...  enter if you dare!

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 21" x 21"
Pattern: Dresden plate using the Easy Dresden Ruler by EZ Quilting.  If you've never tried one check out this fabulous tutorial at Amy's Creative Side's  or Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock's Dresdens Decoded Tutorial.
Fabrics: from the Ghastlies collections by Alexander Henry, Spellbound by Cotton + Steel
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient
Thread: Aurifil 12wt Lana Wool/Acrylic in Faerie Pink (8464), 50wt Victorian Rose (2445)

Blue Plate Speical

Finally get to serve up my Blue Plate Special quilt!  It was inspired by the amazing Greenleaf Goods' Ode to Denyse Schmidt.  I pulled out my massive stash of China Blue fabrics for the Dresden plates and used white linen for the background to continue the fine dining theme.  The final result is much more traditional than I intended but it was a fun quilt to make.

I started this one back in 2015 during a case of the winter blues and made the bulk of the Dresden plates at the 2015 Boston MQG retreat.  A year later I finally got around to piecing the background and then it was another year before I managed to baste it during my manic quilting marathon before Laurena's Longarm was sold.  With that accomplished I quilted down the plates and was ready to start hand quilting...

I love the bold look of the big stitch quilting with 12 wt. Aurifil.  This one got dragged around a lot.  Note to my future self, white linen might not be the best choice for a quilt with hand quilting and applique.  I can't believe this isn't covered with blood stains and grime! 

At that point I thought I was done but it felt like it wasn't quilted densely enough so I went back to my machine.  It probably would have been nice to hand quilt the centers but that would have required marking and it was faster just to machine quilt them.  I stuck with the Aurifil 12 wt. (50 wt. in the bobbin) so the quilting really shows.

Sharing the love with this week's Brag About Your Beauties Pageant by Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty.

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 72" x 96"
Pattern: Dresden plate using the Easy Dresden Ruler by EZ Quilting.  If you've never tried one check out this fabulous tutorial at Amy's Creative Side's  or Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock's Dresdens Decoded Tutorial.
Fabrics: Quilts for a Cure Fine China Blue collection by Bonnie Benn Stratton for Northcott.  Essex Linen - White.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.
Thread: Aurifil in  Natural White (2021) and Midnight (2745).

Falling for Eastham

Another quick finish I found buried in my WIP pile...  Before I tackle a major project I like to make a proof of concept just to be sure everything is going to work out correctly.  Even though I'd already made a Dresden quilt I was really nervous about screwing up my memory tie quilts so I made this wall hanging as a practice run.

Somewhere along the way I'd picked up a Denyse Schmidt Eastham layer cake which was the perfect size for making these Dresden wedges and meant I didn't have to waste time with a fabric pull.  I bought this 15 ° ruler and cut my wedges to use the full 10".

Do you ever run out of things to say about quilting?  I'm not really sure what else there is to share about this one...  I kept sewing wedges together into bigger components until I had a full plate.

I made my quilt sandwich and quilted the plate in place.

From there I tested quilting radiating lines thru each wedge.  It gets a bit thick in the middle but I like the effect.  Since this was really only meant as a test I decided to use some of the solids from the layercake for the background as well.  Of course there were only 2 of any color so I got creative and went with this two-tone background.  I think it makes the quilt much more dynamic but getting the opposing quarter circle wedges to line up in the center at the end was definitely a challenge.

This was another one I found just waiting to be bound.  I was on a roll and whipped together a binding, slapped it on, and hung out with the kids for a rainy day movie marathon to finish it up.

Now isn't that a perfect wall hanging for fall?

Sharing my fall spirit at this week's Brag About Your Beauties Pageant by Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty.

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 24" x 24"
Pattern: Dresden plate using Creative Grids 15° ruler.
Fabrics: Eastham by Denyse Schmidt FSDS Slate and Mist.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Ermine (2312).