Radiant Orchid part the second

So ages ago, I gave you my sneak peak of the radiant orchid challenge and some of you smart little chickens guessed right. I made myself a Dresden plate.

Purple Dresden
 
I have been seeing this so many places for so long and always thought it was something for an experienced/intricate quilter. I was scared to even start. But this year I thought I'd be brave and ordered myself the fancy pants ruler (which I'm sure isn't necessary, but I can't imagine doing it without). And I have to tell you guys, it was actually pretty easy.

I had my fabrics cut and pieced on the same day. I, of course, didn't bother to google a tutorial until AFTER I had sewn my first plate together, and discovered a much better way to do this, so quickly whipped up another one which I have no idea what I'm going to do with!!

I really like the Dresden, just in general. I think it's got such elegance to it!  And it honestly, was so much easier than I thought.  Like, incredibly easy. As in, if you can sew a straight line, you can make this. I admit that I'm not making fancy Dresden's, but still - will definitely be saving this for future quick quilts.

I say quick quilts, because I literally got it pieced in an afternoon. I was on a roll! I thought I could actually get his finished within the week!!!!!!!

I machine stitched my Dresden to some dark grey and even got the top basted fairly quickly. I bought white flannel to back this with in the hopes that the quilting I was planning would it amazing (not to preempt the awesomeness or set your expectations too high), and that it would really pop off the white. And  I love a snuggly quilt and flannel does that for me every time. Well minky does it more, but I'm not going to attempt to do any pretty quilting on minky... I'll leave that to the professionals :-)
 
purple dresden applique

I did the first bit of quilting and was less than thrilled. Particularly with the way it showed up on the back.
 
I figured I'd change it up and make my quilting more sketchy and added more lines. And now I love it! I made sure I wiggled a little bit so you can see the different coloured threads.
 
quilting purple dresden applique

I got my stitch on as best I can, but as always, life (and other projects) got in the way. I'm about halfway through my quilting.  So unfortunately I didn't link in to the Radiant Orchid challenge. Having seen the amazing things other people made I'm not too upset as I stood no chance of winning. If you haven't checked it out you should! Everything is just gorgeous!
 
quilting on grey

As for me, I will be happy with this project even if it doesn't win any prizes. Purple Dresden's just belong in my home :-)

Now to do half a dozen more quilting lines and whip some binding on this sucker! I can get this done this week... right?

E xx

Comments

  1. Oooooh that's pretty! I've always been afraid of dresdens, but you maybe have talked me into trying them at some point! I love the way yours is turning out!

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    1. I was super afraid of them, thinking they'd be really ahrd, but actually really doable. i should link back to the tutorial I used... If I can find it again. Definitely nothing for you to be scared of :-)
      E xx

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  2. You're a braver quilter than me ... I'll get to the Dresden one of these years :) Love the fabrics you chose to blend in with the radiant orchid.

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    1. I felt very brave, and very foolish, but it really was so doable! I'm totally preaching about it's glory to anyone who'll listen. The hardest part is applique'ing the centre circle (which I haven't done yet - waiting til I finish the quilting).
      And thanks. My fabric pull was not a "orchid" as I had intended, but it has a happy purple vibe to it, that I feel qualifies :-)
      E xx

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  3. I had to do a dresden for a bee block earlier this year, and I was surprised at how simple it was. I mean, seriously! I'd hyped it up as this super difficult thing, and really, it was fine. I think the most annoying part was cutting the fabrics out! Yours looks lovely!

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E xx