Dresdens are Done

I finished up with Ellen's lovely Dresden quilt late last week and other than a border design that I decided had to be ripped out and changed, I really enjoyed it. Though I only had little bits of time free to work on it, so it felt like it took forever!

The pictures aren't the greatest, as we've been having overcast days.

I was going to do piano keys or beadboard on the outer border (at the bottom of the above picture) but I was afraid the print and my lines of stitching might not run parallel enough and then run the risk of looking all crooked.

Seeing the shape of the dark parts of the batik made it easy to decide to do another fern feather around the border.

 Shot of the back. Looks pretty good, I think. Can't wait until Ellen has it in her hands and lets me know what she thinks.

I merged the spiral background design into a border with fern feather leaves for the narrower border. I also used my Sue Pelland Leaves Galore ruler to mark the spines and spiral border.

I like doing quilts for others from time to time, but find it horribly nerve wracking. Ellen was fabulous with her permission to do what I thought the quilt needed. I am probably more critical of my work than any of my customers, but that can be a good thing.

But teaching folks to quilt their own quilts is what makes me the happiest! Next Monday will kick off a month of designs and tips for beginners for the Free Motion Monday Quilting Adventure and link party. Come join the fun.