Dresden Daisy Quilt and a Moxie Catch-up

I have a new quilt to share today. This is my Dresden Daisy quilt, made earlier this year for Today’s Quilter.

Almost every year for the last five I have scored the cover quilt for the issue that comes out at the same time as Festival of Quilts. In fact I plan a ‘show-stopping’ quilt every year, alongside the editor, with this in mind.

I wasn’t really sure whether this one ended up quite as impressive as last year’s Wedding Bells or previous year’s Avery Garland, Tendrils or New York Beauty Brigade. But I had a lovely surprise when I got to the Immediate Media stand at FOQ and saw the over sized version of the cover on the wall (left)!  The quilt was also on display there (right).  Their stand was right opposite the Pinhole Quilting stand where I was working for a part of every day so I got to stare over at the cover in all it’s glory (more on the Pinhole stand below).

For last three of these special quilts I have been taking a traditional block or technique and adding extra applique detail. Last year it was Double Wedding Ring and the year before was an EPP garland.  This year I decided to have a play with a Dresden Plate.

Dresdens are one of my favourite traditional blocks. I’ve been making and teaching different versions for the last decade but I’ve never added applique so this seemed the perfect idea.  There is always quite a large empty space in the centre of a Dresden which in the past I have filled with fussy cut portholes or embroidery and embellishments. But this time it would be an applique daisy.

For this design I decided to use all Liberty Tana Lawn along with an Essex Linen yarn-dyed in a pale denim blue (using blue is unusual for me!) as a background.  I have a vast stash of Liberty Tana Lawn that I’ve been hoarding for a VERY long-running WIP, my Liberty Star EPP quilt (begun in 2010!), which I thought I better just use!

The Liberty fabrics are so busy that I decided to make a single fabric Dresden ring, instead of a patchwork one, with no centre and then to fill this space with an applique daisy using different Liberty fabrics. All the needle-turn applique was achieved using Aurifil 80wt thread in neutral Dove Grey or matching colours if I had them.

I was making this quilt back in February/March and it was the fourth quilt that I quilted on my Handi Quilter Moxie.  I had just started using the rulers and decided to try them out for the garland.  So I quilted a row of pebbles at the inner and outer edges and then used the ruler to quilt lines in between.

I then outlined the applique in the centre. This was the hardest bit and I used a ruler to help some of the time and other times I just winged it.  Both methods produced mixed results but it really is just about practice and flowers outlined at the start of a quilting session and at the end provided evidence of this. I then used one of my favourite trailing leaf patterns everywhere else on the background. I definitely find it easier to free draw this than try and outline a shape!

I remember thinking I was doing a terrible job while I was quilting it and then when I looked at the back once finished thinking it looked pretty good! This happens everytime I make a quilt!

I also remember being very up against it time wise (all the hand stitching had slowed me down so I was right up to deadline).

I had a weekend to finish it which coincided with our Thread House Virtual Retreat 6. But this was okay as I knew I could quilt in between chatting on the Facebook Group. But then I had my first vaccination the day before which made me very ill for about 24 hours.

I really struggled on the Saturday, feeling wretched until late afternoon but having to make myself quilt as I had to get it finished.  There was a lot of quilting on this one and it took me way longer than any of my previous Moxie quilts so I was cursing my design choices that weekend!

But it was all worth it as I really love the effect of the ruler work around the ring and I certainly pushed my skills on a level while doing it. I think this quilt took around 5- 6 hours to complete which is much longer than my usual Moxie quilts.

As I said at the start I was working on the Pinhole Quilting/Handi Quilter stand at Festival of Quilts in my role as Moxie Mentor.  It was lots of fun and very busy and I actually learnt loads of stuff from the other, very experienced, folk who were helping on the stand alongside me, such as Derek, Alan and Lynda, some of which I will be able to share in future blogposts once I’ve had more time to try things out. I forgot to take any photos of the stand myself but borrowed this one from Pinhole Quilters Facebook page…

You can see my Pinball Wizard quilt as the backdrop for the stand. This was made by me for my New Patchwork and Quilting Basics book and expertly quilted by my friend Tatyana Duffie on a Handi Quilter Amara (which was also available to try out on the stand).

I really enjoyed chatting to prospective buyers, or those just wanting to have a go on the Moxie. The reaction was always resoundingly postive and it was very rewarding to see how happy and excited people were to have a go. It made me realise how much fun it is to use! I am often caught up with the work side of quilting but it’s actually just a fun process in itself especially as this particular machine is an absolute dream to use.

Talking to quilters on the stand and sharing my experience of the Moxie really reinforced it’s plus points and it was interesting to see which ones hit home the most. Other than the fun factor here’s some other things that really impressed people who came on the stand:

The price – most folks couldn’t believe they could have this machine with frame and delivery for £4995!

No more need for basting – quilters just loved the idea that they could use the machine to baste their quilts so no more crawling around on the floor!

The speed  – the fact that you don’t have to keep stopping to rearrange your quilt (as you do under a domestic machine) means much faster quilting. I have finished a quilt in 1.5 hours with a straightforward overall design.  Much larger bobbins also help with speed, both during and after quilting. The last one I finished took only 3 bobbins which accounted for just 2 lots of ends to thread through!

Quilting a straight line without marking – this particularly impressed the more modern quilter who was interested in matchstick quilting or similar.  Using the channel lock, as I did for my Flower Journey quilt, means you never have to mark your quilts for a straight line again. Something I will be exploiting on my next Moxie quilt!

To illustrate that last point here is a photo of my Journey to the Centre of a Flower quilt (to give it it’s full title), which was hanging at the Aurifil stand during the show, with a happy gang of Aurifil helpers in front. From left to right: Karen Lewis, Leisa Morris, Kay Walsh, me and Sarah Ashford.  And I think you can see how happy we are to be together again!

I am happy to report that Festival of Quilts was a resounding success all round!

If you think you might be interested in finding out more about the Moxie head to Pinhole Quilting’s website here.  While you are their why not sign up for their newsletter. You will see a box on the sign-up form asking for a Moxie Mentor Referral Code.  If you enter my code JA102 you will get a big pack of thread and accessories worth over £100 (as listed above) if you go ahead and order a Moxie!