Category: Tiny Dresden quilts

Dresden Plate Quilt, fat 1/4 quilt, New lap quilt pattern, New Pattern Sample, Tiny Dresden quilts

Earlene, Just in Time for #nationalsewajellyrollday

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Did you know that today is #nationalsewajellyrollday?

I have several patterns that are Jelly roll friendly,

but Earlene is brand new & the PDF is now on my website!

You can purchase & download Earlene on my website today

then choose your 3 jelly rolls,

fat 1/4 collection

or your fabrics from your stash

& start sewing tonight!

When I started making the Tiny Dresdens

I was just having fun using some of my most favorite fabrics from my stash.

 

You may notice some old Jo Morton,

some new Jo Morton.

Some old Brannock & Patek,

some newer Jan Patek.

Some old Barbara Brackman,

some newer Barbara Brackman.

All-time quilt favorites of mine!

Next thing I know, a design popped into my head

that would make the perfect jelly roll or fat 1/4 quilt.

A perfect way to make yourself a generous lap size quilt

with your favorite quilt fabric stars.

Who are your favorite quilting stars?

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

Dresden Plate Quilt, new fabric collection, Tiny Dresden quilts

Meet Flower Garden Gatherings

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At market I fell in love with Lisa Bongean’s

Flower Garden Gatherings by Moda.

It’s a rainbow of color!

I got samples a while back & finally set to cutting up the whole jelly roll into…

Yup!

~~~Tiny Dresden petals~~~

I must have cut close to a million of them.

OK, maybe 1,650 like the jelly roll of Jo Morton’s New Hope that I cut up & sewed back in January.

Aren’t they lovely???

Betsy agreed to hold them tangle-free as I work on 100 or so at a time.

There are so many that you can’t even see poor Betsy.

So far I have about 28 plates made.

My cutlery trays sure come in handy as I trim & press & move from ironing board to sewing machine to cutting table.

Can’t wait to show you more designs that you can make with little Dresden plates.

Are you sewing my Dresden Quilt Workshop Sampler with me?

You can see lots of color options on our Dresden Quilt Workshop Facebook group.

Please join & follow along to sew this awesome quilt.

It’s free.

You just need to buy the book, Dresden Quilt Workshop, & follow my blog.

It’s on my website if you still need a copy or if you want a kit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

A Quilt Along, Dresden Plate Quilt, new fabric collection, New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

Coming Soon… Dresden Quilt Workshop Sampler…Quilt-Along!

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For months I’ve been harboring these.

Patiently they’ve been waiting since early December of last year.

Life even gets in the way of bolts & bolts of beautiful fabric sometimes.

But now they’ve been opened

& united with their intended.

Hanging out in good company.

They’ve been cut, readying to find new homes

in hope to also one day be sewn into pretty little Dresden plate quilts.

Meet Dresden Quilt Workshop Sampler:

My very first Quilt-Along!

I designed this quilt using a bit of

each of the 13 quilts featured in my new book,

Dresden Quilt Workshop.

Do you have yours yet?

If not, it’s time to head to your favorite quilt shop & get your copy today

(or tomorrow).

Stay posted for all the details right here.

If your local shop isn’t selling the books you can find them

along with my Tiny & Mini Dresden Templates

& now the exclusive Dresden Quilt Workshop Sampler fabric kits too

all right here on my website!

Get ready to

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

 

 

Dresden Plates, New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #14

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New Pattern #14

is Dresden LOVE.

I L-O-V-E this quilt!

I’ve been enjoying this quilt hanging in my atelier for quite some time…

3 years according to my camera roll

& now I’m sharing it in pattern form so that you can make & enjoy your own!

I had absolutely no indecision on this one.

I saw it in my head,

knew just the right fabrics for it

& got to sewing.

This is my original Tiny Dresden “O” quilt.

The black fabric is from my very own “Vintage Play” fabric line

that I designed with Red Rooster Fabrics a few years ago.

I added the alternating red little half-square triangles & that was it.

Now you can make & enjoy your own!

Meet Dresden LOVE.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a bit of the process that I use to create my pattern quilts.

All 14 new patterns, the little Dresden templates,

& the notions that I use & love are available on my website.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

Dresden Plate Quilt, New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #13

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New Pattern #13

is God Bless This HOME.

I started with some green fabric, some perle cotton thread & a Tiny Dresden plate.

With so many options though

come so many opportunities to second guess myself!

& third guess…

When photographing a finished quilt for a pattern cover it makes all the difference in the world sometimes.

As I started stitching I knew the thread color wasn’t right.

What looks good in person, doesn’t always show well in a photograph,

that’s why I’m constantly taking pics to discern my progress.

But maybe the addition of the fused letters would help?

I finished the embroidery even though I was pretty sure this wasn’t “it”.

Maybe changing the Tiny Dresden plate fabric would help.

Or not.

The letters needed to be darker, so I started with my pigma pen.

It helped the letters, but not enough to suit me.

Perhaps another Tiny Dresden plate color would help?

Nope!

I started over using black perle cotton thread.

Much better!

At this point I wasn’t sure if the orphaned Tiny Dresden plate was “it”

or if I just thought it was so I wouldn’t have to make another…

It was “it”.

This one is just too dark.

I don’t remember why, but I made a new plate.

I think I toyed with the idea of making the center dark instead of cream.

And then there were half-square triangles.

Just right!

Meet God Bless This HOME.

Such a long story for not so big a quilt

which by the way is available on my website.

Just 1 more new quilt pattern to show you.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #11

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New Pattern #11

is My Little Dresden Garden.

It’s another product of the Tiny Dresden/Jelly Roll experiment of January 2018.

Scientific, no. Fun, yes!

After I finished the original intent of the Tiny Dresden plates, Dresden Sundaes,

I had many more half Dresden plates left over.

For the first quilt (there are 3 quilts in this pattern)

I chose some of the red half plates with at least 2 pairs left and used them for the flowers.

These were drying on my kitchen table under the ceiling fan

after I wet them to remove the center paper templates.

Now what background fabric?

Cream withe dots? Black?

Then which green?

Too blue, too dark…

I had to go shopping for “greens”.

Better!

And now which cream background???

I think I got it.

Now to add leaves.

Looking good…

Do I need some grass too?

Nope!

They’re cute just as they are (which is exactly how I designed them).

Why do I waste so much time second guessing myself???

Quilt #2…

Need something in the middle?

Nope! But a cute thought…

With the help of my little pony (LOL.. not sure why Jody had a horse in her quilt shop),

but she ordered the whole New Hope collection,

so, lucky me I was able to go there & choose between all of the reds for my bindings.

BTW, she still had quite a bit of New Hope left when I was there last week, 40%off!

Finally I decided to make the last quilt that was in my head

& in my computer that I designed for the pattern.

It’s soooo little, just 6″ wide,

but soooo cute!

Meet My Little Dresden Garden.

3 quilts, 1 pattern.

All with Tiny Dresden plates.

All on my website.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

 

 

 

 

Dresden Plate Quilt, new quilt patterns, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #10

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New Pattern #10

is Love you to the Moon.

I love this phrase.

Since creating this pattern, I’m hearing over & over again how lots of moms & grandmas like to tell it to their loved ones.

I made this quilt more than a year & a half ago & it’s been “hanging out” in my sewing room ever since.

Remember seeing it a few new patterns ago?

After I made the quilt I convinced myself that no one would want to waste their time making such a small quilt.

So it hung…

I’ve enjoyed looking at it all this time as well as friends and family members who came visiting my sewing room.

Finally this past winter when I decided to do some smaller little Dresden quilts, I decided to include this orphan quilt.

Like my “Joy to the World” quilt, not many “in progress” photos of this quilt either.

I did ponder the background fabric.

If it’s not going to photograph well there’s no point in proceeding.

Both show the perle cotton thread well, but the lighter fabric won out.

After stitching the words, I next pondered the color of the Tiny Dresden plate.

I wanted to use this one because it was left over from another quilt,

but this version won out.

After all, it’s just 1 measly Tiny Dresden plate for goodness sake!

Add a few Thangles produced half-square triangles, & whalah!

Love you to the Moon.

You betcha, it’s on my website.

Just Keep Sewing… little bitty quilts!

Susan

Dresden Plate Quilt, New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #9

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New Pattern #9

is Joy To The World.

It’s such a small quilt that I don’t have many “in progress” photos, darn!

What I do have is an image of the design printed out to scale,

patiently waiting until I had just the right fabrics to proceed.

It’s a pretty fun place to “hang” out…

surrounded by other cute stuff like this bunny, and a new-ish addition to my window sill, a carved wooden green sofa that I assume was in a little girl’s dollhouse at one time.

Finally it came time for Joy To The World to come to life in fabric.

A little perle cotton stitching,

a bit of fusible web applique

& 1 measly Tiny Dresden plate.

One can hardly call it a Dresden plate quilt.

I’m so glad I was piling up finished tops to go to my quilter because I mistakenly thought Joy to the World was finished, not!

What was I thinking???

I hadn’t put any half-square triangles on the outer edges.

Not sure why I didn’t design them on this quilt.

Glad I realized that before I sent it to my quilter.

Also in the meantime,

I was auditioning a set of new hangers that I designed specifically for this quilt.

The above image is the size that I originally designed for it,

but lack of communication & a larger set was made.

As it turns out sometimes (also known as fate?)

I like the larger (below) version better!

Are you familiar with my Dresden Buddies Series?

We introduced those patterns last spring at St. Louis spring market.

I used 2 Victorian hangers on them, one on top & one on bottom.

Because the quilts were so symmetrical, I thought it made sense.

I really like the added weight the bottom hanger gives the quilts

and if you ever hang quilts you know the bottom has a tendency to curl in after an extended period of time.

The second hanger on the bottom alleviates that curling & makes it prettier too!

So, the star on the bottom of my new hanger set.

It’s adds a nice touch and will prevent “Quilt bottom curl”. Lol!

Didn’t Tamara, my machine quilter, do a great job quilting this cutie?

Next, I added the two sleeves for the two hangers and finished the quilt.

BTW, the quilts that I show on hangers, I always provide instructions in my patterns for the sleeves to accommodate the specific hanger I show.

Meet Joy to the World.

And the Manger hanger set.

Both are available on my website.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

Dresden Plate Quilt, New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #8

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New Pattern #8

is Dresden Sundaes.

It’s my favorite new pattern.

It uses my Tiny Dresden Template.

You’ve seen bits of it here & there on my blog.

It uses Jo Morton’s New Hope Collection by Moda.

It started with my challenge to cut & sew as many Tiny Dresden petals as possible from a jelly roll.

That was fun, but not necessary for the pattern!

After I made all of the petals, I sewed them into half plates

I worked on a lot of this quilt while on a quilt retreat.

Aren’t these scrumdiddlyumptious?

Who knew that was a real word??? Look it up!

Next, I went to work to design the bottom of the blocks.

First I needed to decide on a background fabric.

Ultimately the decision was made to go outside the collection to use a lighter fabric so the baskets would show up much better.

Choosing a center for each half plate was fun.

I have even more fun photographing them.

Can you tell?

I called these baskets from the start of the design.

HOWEVER… my sewing “Friends” (they look in-the-know, huh?)

told me they weren’t baskets, but instead sundae cups.

I got a lot done that weekend.

And so my sundaes grew…

Soon all of the “sundae” blocks were complete.

At this point I thought it needed one more element.

Since there were a few leftover petals…

I put a little bazinga in the corner.

I sewed the rows together.

If you’ve never pieced a quilt “on point”,

it’s just as easy to sew blocks together on point as in horizontal rows.

You just sew the triangles on like they’re another block.

And I always over-size the triangles a bit

so that you can trim them down after they’re sew onto the quilt.

When I finished the top I took if for show & tell at my guild.

Everyone there also saw sundaes so I named it Dresden Sundaes.

Meet Dresden Sundaes.

I’ll have you know that this was my best-selling pattern at spring market.

I’ll also have you know that almost every quilt shop owner that bought the pattern called it my “basket” quilt! Peer pressure…

There are instructions for scalloping the edge of the quilt

& also how to make and sew the bias binding.

Don’t let that scare you.

You can make the edges straight if you prefer.

I also designed this smaller, 8 block version for my pattern tester, Chris.

Perhaps it’s more appealing to you?

All the same pieces to cut & sew, just a lot fewer of them!

 Dresden Sundaes is available on my website.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

New Patterns Spring 2018, #7

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New Pattern #7

Love & Dresden Kisses.

This is a fun quilt to make!

Of course you can use just 1 red fabric, I however cannot!

Where is the fun in that?

Once I decided on the reds I needed a background.

It looks like at this point some straightening up was necessary.

I guess I couldn’t find a suitable background in my mess.

It must have been so bad that I needed to photograph it?

I do see shiny wood floor there…

It may or may not look the same today.

 

This little red star print by Minick & Simpson for Moda was the perfect choice.

It’s from their Snowfall Christmas collection last year.

Next I needed to decide if the reds would actually work.

And would the red plate show up on the charcoal background?

This red one will do.

And now that all the pieces are cut it’s time to sew.

At some point I decided it didn’t need the piano key inner border.

Probably when I decided I’d prefer to start working on Dresden petals instead.

Of course I took a pic of the petal pile!

This reminds me of a line from Madagascar, Lol..

A bit of pressing, turning, pressing and voila!
This is where according to my phone’s camera I took a hiatus
& we bought a new van.
12 1/2 years & 251,000 miles later.
It was time!
Notice it’s in the red family too.
Come to think if it, it’s the second “red” van that we’ve bought in February!
Weird!
I also took in an antique mall,
where I often tend to find my entertainment:
But then got back to work.
These quilts don’t design or sew themselves!
The cream dot in the center of the “O” makes me smile.
Meet Dresden Love & Kisses.
My friend, Loraine tested this pattern for me.
(if you find any mistakes that she didn’t it’s her fault.)
She also helped name it for me.
Thanks, Loraine!
A little bit of fusible web applique, a few X’s and a few O’s, but a lot of fun!
You guessed it, it’s on my website.
Just Keep Sewing…
Susan