I remember my grandma making a Dresden Plate quilt many years ago, and I thought,
I will NEVER make one of those!  I think she worked on those Dresden Plates for years,

and it just seemed so hard and so tedious!  But then I discovered the EZ Dresden Ruler by

Darlene Zimmerman, and it took out all of the guesswork!  I fell in love with Dresdens

and have made several Dresden Plate quilts since then!  

So today, I have a little tutorial for you that features one big Dresden Plate.  This is the

perfect project to showcase some of your favorite fabrics and let you try your hand at a

Dresden Plate, if you haven't made one before.  

I'm calling this one Delma's Dresden - in honor of my late grandmother.  It's more modern
than the classic ones she used to make, but I've been wanting to make this kind of Dresden Plate

for a long time.  It doesn't have a center circle appliquéd over the smaller edges of the wedges.

I think it's pretty fun with points on the outside and inside of each wedge.

Supplies Needed:

- 20 bright rectangles, 4" x 6" each

- Cream background fabric: 28" x 28"

- Batting: 28" x 28"

- Backing fabric: 28" x 28"

- Binding fabric: 1/3 yard or a 26" x 26" frame

- EZ Dresen Ruler By Darlene Zimmerman

- Wood Point Turner

- Spray Starch 

- Appli-Glue by Jilily Studio

- Basting pins or spray, walking foot, water soluble pen,

and seam guides if machine quilting it yourself

- Other quiltmaking supplies such as a sewing machine, iron and board,

rotary cutter, ruler and mat, coordinating thread and applique needle, etc.

Step 1. Line up the 2" mark of the EZ Dresden Ruler on the bottom edge of a bright 

4" x 6" rectangle and the top edge of the ruler on the top edge of the rectangle.  

Trim off the sides to create a fabric wedge.  Cut 20 wedges.

Step 2: Fold the wedges in half, right sides together.  Sew across the top and bottom edges using a 

1/4" seam allowance (I did this in a chain, which is why they're in an arc, below left).  

Trim the corners near the folded edges to reduce bulk.  Be careful not to clip the stitches.

Step 3: Press the folded edges with a hot iron to mark the center of the wedges.

Turn the wedges right-side-out and use a wood point turner to carefully push out

the top and bottom points so they are nice and sharp.  Align the seam allowances (on the back side)

with the center crease to make sure the points are centered.  Press the "blades" with a hot iron

(use spray starch to get nice crisp edges).  Make 20.

    
  

Step 4: Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew the blades together along the long edges,

right sides together.  Make sure the bigger points are aligned at the top and the smaller points

are aligned at the bottom.  Sew the edges of the first and last blades together to create a

Dresden Plate.  Press the seam allowances in one direction.

   

Step 5: Press the background fabric in half with a hot iron, in both directions, to mark the

center of the square.  Center your Dresden Plate on the background fabric over the creases.

Use small dots of Appli-Glue underneath the points of the wedges to adhere the Dresden Plate

in place.  I like to work in quarter sections of the Dresden Plate, just lifting up points of the

wedges and putting a few dots of glue on the back side of each.  Once everything

is glued in place, I like to "set it" with a hot iron.  

Note: My Dresden Plate was off-center here, and I didn't notice until I had already glued

it in place.  Thankfully, the background fabric was cut a little oversized, so I had room to

center it later when I squared everything up and cut it down to size.

Step 6. Applique the Dresden Plate to the background fabric.  I hand-appliqued mine using

taupe colored thread.  If you don't like to hand-stich, you could machine appliqué it

with a simple top-stitch or decorative stitch.  Carefully press

the quilt top with a hot iron.

Step 7: Lay down your backing fabric (wrong side up) on a smooth surface.

Then layer with a piece of batting and your quilt top (right side up).  Use basting pins to

secure the 3 layers together, placing pins 3-4 inches apart.

Step 8: Quilt as desired.  I used my walking foot and seam guides to quilt

diagonal lines (both directions) 1" apart.  I like to increase my stitch length a little when I'm

machine quilting so the stitches aren't too tiny and once in a while I had to use a water soluble pen

and a ruler to mark a few of the lines. I used matching cream thread and avoided the

Dresden Plate as I stitched the diagonal lines.  My machine has a button to create a knot so I used that whenever I had to stop or start a new line.  Once I was done with that part, I went back and

stitched in the ditch around the entire Dresden Plate and each blade.  There was lots of starting and stopping as I tried to reduce the amount of overlapped stitching.

Step 9.  Square up the quilt to your desired size.  Then bind or frame it.

If binding it, use 3 strips, 2-1/2" x 40" each.

I trimmed off as little as possible and then my husband built a 26" x 26" frame for it.  

I got 1/4" plywood for the back (Home Depot sells 26" x 26" boards)

and 1" x 2" wood boards for the sides (I believe we used alder).  My husband assembled

the frame and notched out space with a router for the plywood and quilt.  I stained it

and then he attached some simple hardware to the back so we could hang it.

He assembled everything and then he trimmed off any excess quilt that was poking out

behind the plywood with a sharp Exacto knife.

I love how it turned out and am so thankful to my husband for building the frame!

This would be super cute bound like a normal wallhanging or turned into a pillow

if you don't have the means to build a frame. 

Let me know if you decide to make this project!  Even better, you can send me photos at gigisthimble@hotmail.com or tag me on Instagram at @gigis_thimble.  I'd love to see it!

This is a fun way to showcase your favorite fabrics or try your hand at a Dresden Plate,

applique, or machine quilting.  I used strike-off (sample) fabrics from my latest fabric collection

with Riley Blake Designs called Honey Locust.

Thanks for stopping by today and please let me know if you have any questions!

Finished Uneven 9-Patch Quilt

 Hello friends! On November 30th, I shared a free pattern (on my blog) for an Uneven 9-patch quilt and today, I want to share my finished quilt! (Click HERE for my original post about starting this project.)

I wanted to make a 2-color quilt for my king-size bed using these two fabrics I designed.  The cream fabric is called Seeing Stars for the Hush Hush 4 low-volume collection for Riley Blake Designs.  And the green fabric is called Sketchy Leaves for my Feels Like Home collection with RBD.

I worked on the quilt top throughout December 2024 and finished it right after Christmas.  It was fun working on something kind of festive in December but I love that the fabrics aren't Christmasy so they'll be great in my bedroom all year round!

It's a big quilt!  It finishes at 112" x 102".

I found this beautiful fabric for the back.  It's so classy and matched the green well.

My cute mom stopped by my house one day and helped me line up the backing pieces so the print matched up.  So glad we took the time to do that!  She is a really good seamstress so she showed me some good tricks!

Pretty darn good, right?!?  Thanks mom!!!

I had my quilter, Jen Ostler (in Highland, UT.) quilt it with a 1" grid pattern.  Grid quilting is always a favorite of mine; it's so timeless!  Jen did her signature move and quilted an extra little object into the quilting (in this case - a quilty star) which makes for a fun game of I-Spy!  Do you see the star below?

After I bound the quilt in the same green Sketchy Leaves fabric, I found some coordinating pillows to tie everything together.  I already had the artwork above my bed so I just pulled light green, natural, and gold colors from those prints to use as my pillow colors!  I got all of the pillows that you see here from a wonderful local shop called Layers Bedding.  It's at Gardner Village in West Jordan, Utah.  They add the perfect finishing touch and make my bed feel so cozy and inviting!

I love how the different sizes, colors, textures, shapes, and prints of the pillow fabrics add a lot of warmth to the room.  It took a lot of time to find the perfect combination but it was fun. The process was similar to doing a fabric pull for a quilt and I love that part of quilt-making!

If you want to make a quilt like this, you can download the free pattern HERE.

It includes instructions for 5 quilt-size options and would be cute in any colorway!

Have you ever made a 2-color quilt?  They're so classic; I just love them.

Tell me, what colors would you use if you made a quilt like this?

Two-Color Uneven 9-Patch Quilt Free Pattern

 Hi there!  I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving holiday if you live in the USA!

We did things a little differently this year and went out to eat in Deer Valley, UT. 

It was a winter wonderland there, as you can see.  We had a great time, relaxing and spending time with friends.

Over the last couple of days I have been writing instructions for a new project I am going to start soon.

I've talked a little bit about it on Instagram...

I've been wanting to make another 2-color quilt.  I made a green and white Irish Chain quilt a few years ago, ended up selling it, and have been wanting to make another one ever since.  This time, I decided to go with this Uneven 9-Patch pattern though.  I thought it had a similar vibe but it's a little more jazzy!  I have never made an Uneven 9-Patch quilt if you can believe that!

For the dark fabric, I'm using this green leaf fabric (from my Feels Like Home collection with Riley Blake Designs).  It's called Sketchy Leaves and is in stores now.  For the light fabric, I am using this cream quilty stars print that I designed for Riley Blake's Hush Hush 4 low-volume collection.  It's called Seeing Stars and just shipped to stores!

[Santa Mini Mug Pincushion was gifted to me by my friend Shannon White.]

I plan to make a king-size quilt for my bed.  I have written the instructions to include 5 different size options though so there's something for everyone!  I think it would be cute in any colorway.  2-color quilts are just classic!  I'm loving this red and white "test" block I made!

I am not doing an official quilt-along for this pattern.  I have no sign-ups, or schedule, and won't be sending any emails.  But I would love for you to make one too, if your little heart desires!  I'm starting Monday, December 2nd as a little treat to myself for getting through November haha!  Feel free to join me.   I'll be sharing my progress on Instagram.  

I'm not sure how long it will take me but I think it will be a little bit festive to work on this during December.  It's green and white so I think it will be really cute at Christmastime, but it will work in my home throughout the year too!

Click HERE for the free pattern.

Happy holidays,

Amber

Family Ties Quilt

 Hello!  Today I want to share a quilt that I actually finished a couple of months ago.  I got some pictures of it in September but I'm finally blogging about it!  It's a free pattern that I designed for the Riley Blake Designs website called Family Ties.

You may recognize it because I shared the original version (using my Feels Like Home fabrics) HERE.

I loved making the original version so much that I decided to make another, bigger one from my stash!  

I am not much of a purple person but when I spontaneously put some purples together with some warm browns and navy blues, I loved the combination!  I pulled a lot of low-volumes from my stash as well, that had those same colors in them.  There's a bit of a modern/vintage vibe going on here which is one of my favorite styles!  I used a lot of florals, plaids, geometrics, and even some shirtings.  I love mixing different kinds of prints to give quilts an extra scrappy look!

My original Family Ties quilt (which you can see HERE) has a 6 x 6 block layout.

For this quilt, I made 80 blocks put together in an 8 x 10 layout.  

This is such a simple, classic pattern that is pretty quick to put together.

I think it would be a great pattern for gifting! 

I just so happened to have a bolt of this cream and navy blue plaid fabric in my stash.  I thought it went nicely so I used it for the back and even had the binding fabric in my stash (leftover from another project) so this was kind of a freebie quilt (#girlmath ha!)

My long-arm quilting bestie, Jen Ostler quilted it for me with the Relation pantograph by Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting.  I like how it has a vintage/modern vibe and mimics the design of my blocks.

This quilt finished at 72" x 90".  To make this size quilt, you will need:

- 40 light print 10" squares

- 80 light print 2" squares (2 coordinating squares for each 10" square)

- 40 dark print 10" squares

- 80 dark print 2" squares (2 coordinating squares for each 10" square)

- 3/4 yard of binding (cut 9 strips, 2-1/2" x 40" each)

- 5-1/2 yards of backing fabric

- 80" x 98" piece of batting

Click HERE for the original free Family Ties pattern.

The skill level for this quilt is beginner.

This quilt would be cute for any person and in any colorway!  Do you think you would make it?

What colors would you do?

I hope you enjoy this free pattern!  Let me know if you decide to make it and thanks for stopping by!

From Our House Quilt-Along

Join me in the "From Our House" Quilt-Along with Riley Blake Designs!

It starts today!

It's a classic Log Cabin quilt with a modern twist!  

Each Friday until December 6th a new block (or two or three!) will be released on the Riley Blake Designs blog.  Several Riley Blake designers will be sharing alternate 6" blocks (in addition to what you see in the pattern) so you can pick and choose your favorites!  

I designed a scrappy heart block that I'm calling, Love You.

Click HERE for the free pattern!

From Our House features low-volume fabrics from Hush Hush 4 and some of Riley Blake's new Shades Basics!  I got my hands on some of the Hush Hush 4 fabrics and I am swooning!

These are just a few of them.  There are 21 in the collection.  And guess what!  I was fortunate enough to be able to design a print for Hush Hush 4 (mine is the second one down on the left - with little Ohio stars).

I hope you'll join in the fun!  Click HERE for all of the details about this quilt-along.

Happy sewing!