DRESDEN PLATE DONE!

Last winter I made a nice Dresden Plate quilt from my collection of 1930's reproduction fabrics.  I machine pieced the  blades and later found a cream fabric with small red dots for the background blocks.  I hand appliqued the blades and the centers onto the background ~~  this took a lot of time and patience.  I wish I had known about the Clover needle threader then because it has taken a lot of fussing out of my sewing.

Once the blocks were made and sewn together I made a trip to the Quilt Sampler in Springfield and found fabric for the outer border and then had the quilt machine quilted by my friend Reggie.  That's when the procrastination set in.  I knew in my heart that the Dresden was calling out for scalloped borders, but the thought of all that measuring, marking and cutting (not to mention making yards and yards of bias binding) seemed a little too much. 

The day before Thanksgiving I gave myself a mental kick and began the process ~~  measuring, marking, cutting, etc.  It's a bit daunting to take scissors and cut into a new quilt.  Then there was the small mountain of bias binding to measure, mark and cut.  I couldn't make any errors because I barely had enough fabric to cut the amount of binding I needed.  Thanksgiving afternoon after dinner was over I began stitching the binding around 40 scallops and it went fairly well.  The only thing I wish I had done differently would be to use a darker thread in the bobbin so when I wrapped the binding around to the back I could see the sewing line better.  

Here's my finished quilt except for the label. 

A folded corner showing the scallops

Miss Dottie approves

I'm pleased with this quilt and it will be a keeper for us.  I love modern quilts but there is something very satisfying about making a traditional quilt. This is the last quilt I will complete in 2013.

I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was as enjoyable as ours.  Wishing you all the best!