Pink Tulip Quilting

The Island Batik Ambassador Challenge Parameters:

• Project Type: Quilt
• Size: Lap size or larger
• Island Batik Fabric Collections used: Shadow Blooms by Jerry Khiev for Sarah Fabian of Quilt Basket
• Technique:  Dresden Plate
• Fabrics provided by Island Batik, batting by Hobbs, thread by Aurifil, needles by Schmetz 

BLOG HOP GIVEAWAY RULES: A generous giveaway of the Shadow Blooms collection will be sent to the random chosen winner. Giveaway starts on November 19 through November 24, 2024. Winners announced November 25, 2024. One entry for each of these: Follow Pink Tulip Quilting on Instagram, Comment on Instagram Giveaway post, Tag a friend on Instagram Giveaway post, Follow Pink Tulip Quilting on Face Book, Comment on this blog.

The Dresden Plate, a quintessential block in quilting, is known for its captivating radial design featuring blades or wedges arranged in a circular pattern, resembling a delicate flower. I was inspired by the Dresden Bloom Strip Club Pattern seen on Pinterest and purchased on Etsy. First, as always, I installed a new Schmetz Microtex Needle and cleaned the bobbin casing on my Brother Dreamweaver.

My original design was to highlight the Shadow Blooms collection’s beautiful array of light and dark options. The Dresden Blades were created by pairing a light with a dark; keeping the dark to the left when I trimmed the pieced pair with a 10-degree wedge ruler.

Pressing with my Oliso Smart Iron and Oliso Wool mat was key when the points of the blades were trimmed then turned. Once pressed, I paired and sewed two blades together. The pairs were then trimmed to a 6.5-inch length. I auditioned various placements of the blades; it was a toss-up between a stylized dragonfly and the traditional circular flower. I opted for the traditional.

Shadow Blooms was the ideal collection for the Dresden technique. The coloration absolutely so stunning I used every option in the collection. The center was a 15-inch circle that I machine quilted prior to adding to the Dresden flower petals.

A 36 by 40-inch rectangle, the base of the center panel was pre-quilted prior to adding the Dresden flower. I pressed the quilted center panel with my Oliso by folding in half both lengthwise and widthwise so I would be sure to place the Dresden Flower applique in the center.

Once centered, on the base, I stitched around the circle then added some curlicues with metallic thread for a hint of shimmer. The blades or petals were attached by stitching in the ditch along the seams then and overcast stich along the edges. My Brother Dreamweaver has a wonderful variety of stitched as seen in the pictures above.

During prep I had cut more rectangles than needed for the Dresden flower because I love a piano key border. The 4 lengths of piano key border and the 4 cornerstone blocks were quilted before attaching to the center panel.

Once sandwiched together with my favorite Hobbs Tuscany collection (twin size/unbleached cotton), there was only minimal quilting to do. Hobbs’Tuscany collection is one of the softest cotton battings on the market today; it resists bunching and shifting. The Aurifil collection: Wild Grasses is a beautiful collection; I used several of the soft greens for this project.

Quilting as I went really reduced the arthritis pain I experience now when handling a heavy quilt. Final quilt size: 54 by 70 inches.

Be sure to visit all the Island batik Ambassadors to see all the beautiful projects this month.

Please visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors for incredible designs on the Dresden theme! The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Megan Best ~ BestQuilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Kim Jamieson-Hirst ~ Chatterbox Quilts

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Julia Schweri ~ Inflorescence Designs

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt