I love Dresden plates, always have. Something about the symmetry appeals to me. I’d been planning to make one out of batiks since a shop hop two years ago. (Yes -two years! Actually, it might be three. . . .) At each shop on the hop, I purchased 3/8 yard of a batik or two or three. So I’ve a nice collection. When I got a chance to work on Anelie Belden’s new book Thoroughly Modern Dresden, I was excited and intrigued. Excited, ’cause, well, I wanted to make a Dresden. Intrigued because I’d seen her quilts. They’re gorgeous. Could I really do it? After reading her book and understanding her construction methods, I found I could!

Along with her projects, Anelie gives you tips on mixing and matching block sizes, Dresden blade styles, and settings. This suits me because I hardly ever do anything exactly like I see it. I loved the colors and the setting of her Blue and Yellow Sunshine project. They match my kitchen. But it was too big for the wall where I pictured it. I switched the quarter-block size from 12″ to 9″ and, just for fun, I changed the blades’ top style to pointed from three-sided. I used my batiks and added some other fabrics from my stash. Within a day I had it up on my design wall and then sewn!

My Dresden plate wall hanging

I love this blue and yellow wall hanging and might even make it into a clock. (See Lynn Koolish’s book Fast, Fun & Easy ® Creative Fabric Clocks: 6 Timely Techniques for Fabric and Paper. Another “can I really do this?” that I found I really could do.) However, I have a problem – I don’t always finish things right away. (Anybody else have any UFO’s out there? Yup, I thought so.)  I drafted the outer border design and selected the fabrics, even cut some of the pieces. That was 6 months ago. I “got distracted” and started a queen-sized batik Ohio Star quilt for my husband. Now that I think about it, that’s complete except for the borders, too, and I’m onto something else. Am I seeing a pattern, here?