This is my Friday finish: a pillow (not yet stuffed!) to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The gift, wrapped and with a very original bow on top is sure to please her, particularly because ‘the wrapping’ was made out of a gardening-theme fabric as she loves to work on her garden.
First I cut the Double Wide Dresden wedges from assorted red prints. The next step was to audition fabrics for the gift wrap. I had so many choices but in the end, chose one that was not in the original lineup.
I love this block!!! At first, I was going to turn it into a wall hanging but the idea of a pillow won me over very quickly.
Before adding the backing I free motion quilted the pillow front with leaves and flowers, echoing with straight lines inside the blocks. The fun feature of this pillow is that there is no piping: I finished it just as I would any quilted project. The idea is courtesy of Sarah Craig from Confessions of a Fabric Addict. She has a great tutorial here and it will change your pillow-making days forever!
Here is the back with an easy way to insert the pillow form. Because this is a small pillow meant for a chair I will make the pillow form, add polyfill, and present it in a box to her.
I got the idea for this project from the book The Double Wide Dresden Book – 13+ Projects for the Double Wide Dresden Ruler by Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson published by Martingale. I’ve been following Barbara and Mary for quite a while now because I love their unique quilt and block designs. Although this book presents projects to be made with their ruler, I was able to whip up the pillow very fast (at night, when all stores are closed and there is no chance to get the ruler) since a template was provided for the Dresden wedge. Awesome! No doubt the ruler would have made it easier for me, but here is what I did:
I made a plastic template of the shape …
… placed it on the right side of the fabric, traced around it, moved the template away and cut the shape with the ruler and rotary cutter. I like doing it this way because I do not damage the template and, at the same time, I protect my fingers as the ruler is thicker than the template.
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| Photograph by Brent Kane for Martingale. Used with permission. |
This is Barbara’s and Mary’s design which gave me the idea for the project. I L O V E this table runner! It is cheerful, colorful, a fantastic home decor item or gift. This sister team version of the gift box is the best yet.
How about this Inchworm quilt? What a cool use of the Double Wide Dresden wedges in a quilt which is sure to please little kids and would look great with any fabric.
You know this quilt is on my To Do List, right?
The quilts in The Double Wide Dresden Book can be made scrappy and colorful, whether with rainbow palette or many shades of the same color. Regardless of the project you choose, you will have your quilt ready in no time because there is no hand applique’ involved and, yet, there are no raw edges. The finished Dresden wedges or plates are perfect!
Mary Jacobson is the genius behind the Double Wide Dresden ruler and method of finishing the wedge. Then, the two sisters, continuing in their lifelong mission to create easier versions of traditional quilt blocks, worked their magic together in each design. Did you notice the star pattern at the center of the Dresden plates? Oh…
The book has easy-to-follow instructions, a “What if” section showing even more ways to work with the wedges, and their Tips and Tools.
And so, I am a happy camper today. I will be joining Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict linky parties and check out everyone else’s finishes.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Thanks for the shout-out, Denise! Your pillow is adorable!! And I agree, it will change your pillow-making life forever – binding a pillow cover is so much easier than trying to turn it and get nice corners!