Thursday, March 14, 2013

Dresden Baby Quilt


I guess I didn't get all the dresden plates out of my system with my last finished quilt. I really wanted to make some traditional dresdens with the pointy blades, instead of rounded off like my modern dresdens quilt. This one is for a very good friend who just had her first baby. We grew up together, and even though we don't talk all that often now, she is just one of those people I will always think of as a close important friend. And when we do get to see each other, it's a very happy thing.  



I started by pulling soft girly colors out of my bag o' scraps. The picks edited themselves into a pastel primaries selection. Then I added the black sketch print and a couple other black or gray prints. That was all it needed to tie everything together with an edge. But a baby-appropriate edge. So it's pretty fun that I was able to get such a great color story just from my scraps. I only had to cut into a couple of my new pink Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets.



The quilting was pretty experimental. I had borrowed my mom's copy of Angela Walter's FMQ book and one night I was drinking wine and looking thru pictures in it. Then I decided, "hey I should just do some of that to my dresdens." So that's the extent of the planning that went into it. I tried swirly things in the center circles. I wish I had taken a close up of that light blue one, because it was the first and it really sucks. But the other three are pretty good.



This is an example of pretty good. Really, I should show more of the sucky stuff right? Then I just did meandering loops in the rest of the dresdens. Straight lines finished out the background, mostly because I knew I would screw things up if I tried another fmq pattern there. Still, it always feels good just to get slightly more comfortable with it. And the combination of quilting styles gave it a great crinkle.



I bound it in Bella Feather, same as the background, to keep the impact of the plates. My first choice would have been that black sketch, but I didn't have enough. I like the look of white binding a lot though.

The back is a Liberty Lifestyle print from Bloomsbury Gardens. The quilt finished at about 43" square.

Now I'm working my way through the WIP list and I hope to have more finishes to show for it soon!





26 comments:

  1. I want to steal this from your friend! Ha ha! You totally killed it on your quilting...seriously...stunning! I also love your color palette, so fresh and soft. What a wonderful gift!

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  2. Gorgeous! I love the effect of using the same color for the background and binding. The quilting looks beautiful - I am totally intimidated by free motion quilting.

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  3. This is so, so beautiful. I love the classic dresdens against the white. And such a creamy, white with depth too.

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  4. Gorgeous! I want to snuggle this...

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  5. One of my prized posessions is a quilt my great grandmother (I never met, but I am named after) made. Quilts are such an amazing gift that last forever! Very pretty!
    thisiskatefunk

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  6. Gorgeous! One of these days I will make a quilt!

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  7. I really cannot even express how much I love this quilt!!! :)

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  8. I like the look of the white binding too. And way to go on being adventurous!

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  9. Beautiful! You are so talented. I'm a beginning beginner. Does that make sense? 6 quilts under my belt with so much to learn! Love seeing your work! thank you for sharing!

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  10. oh my, this is stunning! i LOVE the white binding too... makes everything just pop even more. really, i am just in awe! -erin

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  11. This is beautiful!! What talent you have! Way to go!

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  12. just lovely, Jessica! I absolutely love the quilting you did on this one - it's perfect for this quilt!!!

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  13. It looks snuggly already, and will be so much more so when it is wrapped around a baby.

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  14. well that's pretty much gorgeous! what an amazing gift!

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  15. Love, love, love. I need to learn to quilt!

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  16. So pretty, and I love the fabrics you chose!

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  17. Love this! Can I ask a few questions, as a newby quilter? How big is the quilt? Do you machine sew the dresdens, or hand? And am i right in assuming they are appliqued on a background? (or do you piece it somehow?). Are they connected right to the center or does the center circle cover a hole in the middle? This is so cute and my sister's having a baby soon and I'd love to tackle a project like this. (I know I could google some info about similar quilts, but thought I'd ask you what you did, as well as doing some googling.). Thanks!
    Heather

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  18. so cute! The quilting in that book really freaks me out....lol. Probably only something I would attempt with enough wine influence.

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  19. What a lucky friend you have! It's such a beautiful quilt!

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  20. I agree...very lucky friend. Beautiful job Jessica!

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  21. How did I miss this? Seriously gorgeous!!

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  22. I popped over from Flickr after seeing this quilt in the Fresh Modern Pool, it's just lovely! I love how it's made up of soft colours but not too babyish.

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  23. Beautiful quilt! I love it!
    I just found your blog and will be following regularly now.
    I live over in Iowa and it it fun to find other mid-west modern quilters!
    Love your film series too! What fun!

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