Saturday 26 October 2013

Quilt festival 2013 - my dresden quilt.

Amy is again hosting the fabulous quilt festival. I think this is among the highlights of the year quilting wise – I’m always amazed by the amount of wonderful, inspirational quilts that are displayed and are looking forward to browsing this year’s quilts.
 
My contribution this time is a quilt that I started this spring and finished a few months back – a Dresden quilt.
 



Facts:
Size 80x60 inches
Methods: piecing, appliqué, machine and hand quilted
Fabric: scraps and basically just various  fabrics from my shelf







The initial idea came about when I wanted to use my black/white fabrics and spice it up with pops of color in a rainbow quilt. At the same time I wanted to embrace the classical Dresden in a modern setting. I'd seen a picture of something like it in one of Katy Doughty's books but i wanted to make it different. In the process of making this quilt, I will admit there were times where I wasn't so sure that it was such a good idea anyway. Luckily the story had a happy ending and I love how it turned out in the end.

Dresden Flowers


As usual a little bit of planning ahead might have been a good idea, but I just jumped right into it and without much more than just a vague idea of the direction. The rainbow quilt didn't really happen except on the back, but then that's life. It rarely go as planned :)

Some of the background is fabric my son gave me - very graphic fabric just like kids love it - cows, zebras, forks and spoons. I’ve had it for a few years and honestly struggled with how to use it. Making it part of the background was a good solution. He sees it but it’s not too obvious. I also got to use a lot of black and white scraps and various fabrics from the shelf. In general, there's very little planned about this quilt. It's sort of made go-with-what-you-got-and-do-what-you-feel-like approach.  

 
The quilt is both machine quilted and handquilted. 



For the binding I selected a black/white border with dots so it frames the quilt and still mixes in with the background. The background is just a plain polka got dark grey with a rainbow.






This quilt was a fun and creative journey :)
 
Join in the fun:


AmysCreativeSide
 
Though most are not in this Quilt Festival to win, but to share inspration, there are tons of sponsers who are kindly giving away prices for both category winners and for Viewers Choice.  A huge thank you to all sponsors and to Amy for making the festival a reality once again. 


83 comments:

  1. Love the LV background graduating down to dark and the way the Dresden flowers pop on it.

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  2. This is seriously stunning Cille! I love how the flowers pop off the neutral background.

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  3. I adore your quilt! What a fabulous way to use Dresdens!! A huge well done.

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  4. I love the colors... I think you should enter your second pic looking across the pond in the photograph quilt section. It's gorgeous with the reflection!

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  5. Love how you used the dresden blocks in a unique way. Lovely!

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  6. what an imaginative use of dresdens - I love it! Enjoy the festival!

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  7. I love the Dresden flowers idea and love the grey background. Bravo.

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  8. So pretty! I love the colored flowers on the BW background.

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  9. That is a gorgeous picture! Well, the quilt is a winner too and totally perfect. Love it!

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  10. Your photo with the reflection in the water is stunning.

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  11. Love the shot of it reflecting in the lake!

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  12. I can't say enough about this one - definitely a favourite from the past year! So glad you entered it. -)

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  13. This is such an outstanding quilt! Your work is divine. Love the reflection in the pond. Great work all around.

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  14. Beautiful quilt! I love the photo by the water!

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  15. Such a lovely quilt and I especially love the photo with the reflection...

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  16. Wow, this is fabulous. Love it so much!

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  17. the shot with the reflection in the water is really special. congrats on a beautiful quilt

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  18. well if this isn't the most gorgeous thing ever?!? LOVE it!

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  19. What a neat quilt Cille! Thanks for sharing - it is very unique and beautiful.
    Karen

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  20. I love how you have used the dresdens, I really enjoy bright colours on black and white, beautiful!!

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  21. Beauttiful quilt, a fantastic way to use dresdens!

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  22. What a fantastic quilt! I love Dresdens and I love the way you incorporated them and made the quilt so modern! The black/white and text prints are perfect for the background. The back is awesome too! I'm new to your blog - I read your profile - that could be MY profile! So far away, yet so alike! o:)

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  23. Great quilt. I love your pics

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  24. Love your quilt! Love the modern look so much! Beautiful!

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  25. Gorgeous quilt! Your photography is awesome too :)

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  26. Beautiful quilt! So vibrant and fun.:)

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  27. Love the contrast of traditional and modern in this, and how the bright flowers pop!

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  28. I love this quilt, truly an original. Love how you mixed in the background with the splash of color.

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  30. Great color and contrast! I really love the reflection pic!

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  31. I've love how you turned the Dresden plate into flowers. Great quilt and absolutely stunning photography.

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  32. Very striking. Love the use of the mixed background fabrics for the colorful "flowers". Great job.

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  33. Dresden plates are such a fun quilting pattern but even more fun when they're flowers! Great quilt!

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  34. Amazing photos, amazing quilt - You've got my vote.

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  35. A real beauty, and fantastic entry into the festival!

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  36. Goregous quilt and the shot is fantastic!

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  37. A most excellent quilt! Love the design and fabric choices.
    Have a great day.
    Always, Queenie

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  38. Beautiful! I love the pieced background. I am going to have to try that.

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  39. very cool, both the flowers (which I did not realize were Dresden plate blocks until I read your post!) and the variety of black and white background fabrics.

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  40. Super sweet quilt! Wonderful picture with the reflection in the water!
    Esther
    esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo dot com

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  41. lovely quilt...you should be proud to have made it

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  42. What a beautiful way to use dresden plates in a large quilt. I adore the far away photo on the edge of the pond. Gorgeous work!

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  43. Super quilt to put in the Festival - so nice to see it again. I just love how you rendered the Dresdens.

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  44. Simply beautiful - I love the reflection in the water. What a fun way to use Dresdens. They're perfect as flowers.

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  45. This quilt is wonderful! I love the photos you took of it as well. Great work!

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  46. Wonderful quilt, and great pictures!!

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  47. This is my favorite quilt in the entire festival so far. LOVE the picture by the lake. Stunning quilt and great photography. You should be EXTREMELY proud of this quilt!!!!

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  48. This is such a great quilt! The photos are beautiful, I love the setting in the trees!

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  49. Your quilt is incredible! Love everything about this quilt as well as your photography.

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  50. This quilt makes me smile. I just love it.

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  51. What a fun quilt! I love those blooming colours against the neutral background. Your photos are amazing, too!

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  52. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I appreciate it!

    What a beautiful quilt! You did a fantastic job and I really love your background fabrics!

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  53. What a gorgeous quilt! I've always wanted to do a dresden :)

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  54. This looks gorgeous! Love your background and the dresdens really pop with color. And the back is great too! Good job!

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  55. Gorgeous and the photography is amazing !

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  56. I love everything about this quilt! So beautiful!

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  57. It is so gorgeous! Love the design and your hand quilting. Fantastic photo!

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  58. Such a brilliant use of colour with your bright dresdens against the B&W background - lovely photos too!

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  59. Beautiful!!! Such a lovely design, and the palette you chose really makes the quilt sing. :)

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  60. Congratulations on your Win! I voted for your quilt and it is beautiful!

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  61. I am so thrilled you won! Especially after our conversation. So very well deserved.

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  62. Congratulations on your win! Such a very stunning quilt.

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  63. Congratulations! I love the pic next to the water.. So beautiful!

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  64. Congratulations! This quilt is a winner! Very lovely!

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  65. Yay!!!!! You won! Much deserved!!! I love love love your quilt!! Congrats!

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  66. Congratulations on your win!! Very cool.

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  67. I’m excited to uncover this page. I need to to thank you for ones time for this particularly fantastic read !! I definitely really liked every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to look at new information in your site. isaimini movies

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