Dresden Love

Have you been noticing the popularity of Dresden Plate quilts these days? They seem to be popping up all over the place, even in some modern projects. This  pretty aqua, navy and green block is for Rene' who is this month's queen bee for the Mid-Century Modern Bee.

It was enjoyable picking the analogous fabrics from my stash to create the block. If you haven't tried one, you really should as they are fun and easy to make using the acrylic ruler by Darlene Zimmerman. The pattern, one of the most popular in the 1920's and 30's, gets it's name from Dresden, Germany, the center for 19th Century Romanticism movement in art including elaborately decorated plates.

My head has been turned by the lovely pattern in my own quilt making. Remember this? Well, after accidentally cutting all of the blades for my quilt a little larger than my original test block I had an extra block floating around. Needing a sweet dolly blanket for a certain grand daughter's Christmas gift, I immediately thought of my spare block.

 A search through the Lollyquiltz Stash Closet produced the perfect lavender background for my floral block. I quickly backed it pillowcase style and then top-stiched on the dresden, stitching in the ditch along each blade to quilt it as I machine appliqued the block to the quilt.

 The little pine bed came from IKEA and I spray painted it hot pink. At $19.99 it is a great bargain for such a sturdy little bed! The beds must really be in demand as Christmas gifts as they were out of stock and I had to wait for a new shipment! Whew...thank you elves, for your hard work! 

 The bed comes with a little blanket and mattress pad but they really weren't very cute so, of course, I made some bedding to coordinate with the doll quilt. I think that the fabric (again, from my stash) looks a little like vintage sheets, don't you?

Baby bear tested the mattress, pillow and quilt for me and found them to be quite comfortable.

There may have even been visions of sugar plum dancing in his head!