Vintage linen table topper and free motion quilting fun

Hi All! Today's post is a cute little vintage table topper. 

Year's ago I found a stack of wonderful vintage Dresden Plates blocks.  Each block is 14" X 14".

Aren't those fabrics wonderful, and each block is all different fabrics.  The fabric blades are machine stitched and then hand appliqued to the muslin blocks with long running stitches. 

I felt the piece needed a bit more presence so I added the vintage block with it's batting to a piece of beige fabric and hand stitched it in place. I then added a second piece of batting for the whole piece. Then I moved on to experimenting with various machine quilting designs.  Because of the way the two battings were placed I was able to get some wonderful depth in the quilting.  Unfortunately it is rather hard to see in the photos, but if you look carefully at the blades you may notice it.

Also of note, is the center area.  My guess is the original maker intended on covering the centers with something.  They are all a bit wonky.  I, however, wanted to stay true to the pieces and left them as is. 

I'm loving the piece and how it looks with my Wedgewood vase over the center.

I couldn't resist a beautiful Photo of Ireland to go along with the Wedgewood vase. 

Ireland trip 2007 would so love to go back!  

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Quilt-Dresden Plates

     FLOWERS, BLOOM and GROW

Today's projects are a set of three vintage Dresden Plate squares that I've finish with wool flowers and  free motion quilting.









Years ago I found a large group of vintage dresden plate blocks.  Although they washed up nicely the quality of the stitching was prohibitive to make them into a quilt.  However, it's been interesting finding various ways to use them in smaller art projects. 

  

First I quilted the blocks.  Quilting is all quite tiny and I experimented with various designs especially on each part of the dresden plate.
To these blocks I added three different wool flowers. The flowers were freehand cut out and attached with thread painting.

 

Finally I added free motion quilting and wording to make them pop.

Finished pieces 14 3/4" X 15 3/4"
Muslin Backing.
Wool and wool roving for flowers.
Quilting done on my domestic sewing machine.
Unfortunately the maker of the vintage dresden plate blocks is unknown.

Quilts-Dresden Plates

Today I thought I'd show a quilt I finished for a Guild Challenge. We were to finish up a UFO and share the results.


I had been experimenting making Dresden"Plates" blocks.  Trying to get a feel for how different sizes might looked. I was left with a bunch of odd leftover "Plates".
This is the quilt design I came up with to use those blocks up.
62" X 69"
The "plates" are appliqued onto a chambray cotton quilting fabric. I used  the buttonhole stitch on my machine for the applique application. The "plates" are free motion quilted to feel like flowers.  The whole cloth background is free motion quilted in a meandering pattern with occasional hexagons.
The back is a soft flannel. Quilting done on my domestic sewing machine.
I think it will be a nice addition  next to my reading chair.