It's the same with Dresden plate "blades" or "spokes" - always an even number. Well, almost always. Here's the story of my Two Dresden Plate Quilts.
The Bed Quilt; 73 inches by 90.5 inches quilt top, just completed
The thirties Dresden Plate circles of fabric, all 20 of them, were given to me by a friend, and I noticed right away that they didn't lay flat. What to do.....what to do.......redo all the seams in each circle......or......maybe take out one "blade" or "spoke". It was easier to take out one piece of fabric, and sew the rest together, and they were then as flat as pancakes! I fixed all 20 of the circles, and then decided to applique them onto muslin background. I thought yellow would be a good choice for the center circles and the sashing, so I appliqued yellow circles over the center of the now 21 plates. (I made an extra one with all the "blades" I removed from the other circles).
Midway through this project, I saw a little kit on Etsy to make a doll quilt with Dresden Plates and yellow sashing, just like the one I had in progress. I thought, wouldn't that be cute to have matching big and little Dresden Plate quilts?
So, I bought the little kit and went to work. I sewed 10 blades together as per the instructions and the little circles didn't quite close.......what to do.....I know! Add another blade! So the little quilt has 11 blades in each plate, and they lay very flat.
This little doll quilt top is 16.5 by 21 inches.
I think it's fitting that the two matching quilts both have an odd number of "blades" or "spokes". Odd, or actually, not odd, but rather symbiotic, or synchronous, or some other word that describes "in balance".
I also feel that some quilter from the past is smiling down on me with pleasure because her Dresden Plate project is getting closer to being a finished quilt.
I love all the fabrics that she chose. Have you ever seen a Dresden Plate with an odd number of blades?
I'm going over to piecefullife-elizabeth.blogspot.com to report in with her Little Quilt Mondays, to see what everyone else is doing. What are you working on?
So pretty. I like the odd number stories. And i LOVE the little matching mini. And I love the yellow...my favorite color...Sweet!
ReplyDeleteWonderful little mini...sometimes odd is perfect : ) Lovely post!
ReplyDeleteYou are a wonder! Only problem with all this beautiful work is that it reinforces my feelings of inadequacy! I'm not getting enough done! Keep up the terrific work!
ReplyDeleteYour mathematician is showing! Lovely quilts!
ReplyDeleteYou have piqued my interest. I am going to pull down (from my closet) my old Dresden Plate quilt and count the blades today. Found you on pieceful life. First time I've linked there. Please check out my tiny yo yo quilt I entered on her blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful quilts! I just bought a dresden ruler but haven't tried making one yet. I'm planning to use an even number of blades, but wouldn't surprise me if I end up with an odd number. That's how my projects usually go :-)
ReplyDeleteI think your quilt looks wonderful and the yellow complements the Dresdon Blocks.
ReplyDeleteIam doing a BOM http://www.craftsy.com/class/The-Craftsy-Block-of-the-Month and July's blocks were 12 inch Desden plates. Not only did they not lay flat they were too big for the 12 inch block lol. Back to the drawing board and start again.
Cheers Pauline
Sweet! What fun to have matching quilts! It's also special to be able to finish a quilting project somebody else started years ago. Recently, I had the chance to quilt a quilt top that a friend's mom made before I was even born. Pretty cool.
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