Tag: Dresden plate

The Quilt is Finished!

Marie HaighLeave a comment

I finished it one day before we left for Jodi’s and Matt’s wedding in San Francisco.

There were moments I wasn’t sure I would finish it at all.

The marathon quilting that occurred during the last week took a toll on my fingers. Not even the quilter’s callous could save them. They throbbed and even bled. A little bit of blood dripped onto the quilt in my haste. One finger has still not healed a week later. Yet, it was worth it.

It is not your typical wedding quilt, but a traditional wedding quilt didn’t seem right for Jodi and Matt. So, I went a bit retro on the front.

and a bit modern on the back.

a close up of all the quilting

Pictures were shot in my neighbor’s backyard on Friday before I stuffed it in our luggage. Thankfully, the airline did not lose our luggage.

Even though gifts are rarely opened at weddings, I insisted that the newlywed couple open the quilt. I was dying to see their reaction. Happily, they both loved it.

One Circle Quilted

Marie HaighLeave a comment

All 24 sections of the Dresden plate as well as the flowers surrounding the fisherman have been quilted.

Rather than transfer a quilting design and following it, I used the fabric as my guide. Any motif that looked simple enough to follow was outlined in black quilting stitches.

The Dresden plate

Close up of fisherman

In order to accomplish all this quilting, I drug this quilt all over Pottstown. It has been worked on at McDonalds, my neighbor’s house, MOMS club activities and local playgrounds. Basically, any spare moment has been spent quilting.

3 more circles to go. Expect to see the quilt if you see me.

Hand Quilting while Elly Slept

Marie HaighLeave a comment

Every night after Elly went to sleep and every morning before she woke up, I snuck in a little quilting.

(Elly cuddling with her younger cousin). 

The 14″ hoop I bought from Amazon was just perfect for snapping around a section of the quilt and popping it onto my lap.

The stitches are not tiny and perfect.

It was difficult getting the needle to sail through the typical 3 layers of a quilt plus the extra layer of the Dresden plate applique. I could only load 3 stitches at a time.

Each piece of the Dresden plate is quilted differently. Some pieces have almost no quilting as the fabric seemed too busy so I just quilted along the joining seam. Other pieces had a simply motif in the fabric that I quilted around the outline of.

Other pieces had a repeating diagonal running through the fabric that I happily followed.

Though I had originally planned to quilt each piece of the Dresden plate the same with a 1/4″ outline inside the stitching seam, it was more fun to base the quilting design on the fabric.

As before, quilting by hand was a joy. I just might start quilting more often than my current once-a-year pace.