Dresden Plate Finished!

 

I finished my friend's antique Dresden Plate quilt this past weekend. Phew! It came out pretty good if I do say so myself! I wasn't sure if my feathers would look crooked since the plates are not lined up exactly straight. I think everything just sort of blends nicely and nothing looks completely out of whack. 

 When I first started to quilt it, I thought it would take me a long time to finish it. Once I really got going, I sort of developed a system. I would outline each one of the Dresden plates. Then I would make a line between them for the feathers that were on each side of the applique. The last thing I would do was extend quilting the borders and mark horizontal lines across the quilt between the rows. Once I got into a work pattern, it became so much faster! I knew what to do.

I would quilt the circle with curved crosshatching when outlining the plates. They are not marked so it was quick! The stippling was fun to add. I was able to cover a few of my feather mistakes so it came in handy! The only bad thing is my feathers improved as I worked my way down the quilt. I can tell where I started and ended just be looking at the shape of the feathers. I hope no one else notices! I had a great time working on this and felt I learned so much. I have 3 more quilt tops of my own to quilt. It looks like I'll be busy!