Tiny Dresdens

Posted on May 1, 2016 by prairiemoonquilts in Guild Stuff

I have to tell you about my mug rug I made for our guild’s mug rug swap.

At our guild retreat back in March, I won several prizes, and one of them was this little tiny wedge ruler:

miniwedgeruler

It came with a pattern for making fan blocks, but I wanted to try it out making a Dresden Plate block. I thought my mug rug would be the perfect project to try it out on!

miniwedgepattern

I cut all the pieces from 1 1/2″ strips out of my 1 1/2″ strips scrap bin:

Mugrug2

Then I sewed the tops shut, turned them, and sewed them together into the plate:

tinydresden

Then I appliquéd the plate down onto a background, added the center circle, and pieced a little patchwork section to go down one side.

I used Quilter’s Dream Fusion batting, a fusible polyester batting. I fused it to the backing, then put my plate block on top. I quilted it on my little Janome machine with my walking foot, which explains why it’s a bit bubbly.

mugrug1

When I was done with the machine quilting, I did some big-stitch hand quilting for some accents. I used The Crafty Gemini’s 12-wt. Sulky for that.

thread

Here’s the finished back. Can you tell I was in a hurry and didn’t do such a hot job on my scrappy binding?

mugrugback

Norma won my mug rug in the swap, and I got a purple one in return with a butterfly on it.

mymugrug

The colors are really vivid, and I’ve always been a fan of purple and gold together. I’ve decided it’s too pretty to use as a mug rug — I’ll get coffee all over it! — so I’m going to hang it on the wall with some other mini quilts and keep it pretty. And I forgot to ask who made this one, so if you’re in my guild, and you know who made this one, let me know!

Here’s how the swap worked:
Everyone who made a mug rug turned in their mug rug, and we numbered each of them. Then we put corresponding numbers in a bowl, and everyone participating took turns drawing a number. The number you drew out was the number of the mug rug you won (unless it was your own, then you got to try again). It was fun! So there’s an idea for a fun little activity you can do with your guild or quilting group, if you need one.

And speaking of mug rugs, when I whined earlier that I’d never have time to make one for myself, this very adorable little thing appeared in the mail one day from reader, Karen!

eggrug

It’s a fried egg! Sprinkled with pepper! Too cute — and also going on my wall of minis, so I don’t spill coffee on it. The card is even super cute. Thank you so much, Karen!

As for the tiny Dresden plates, I think they’re so adorable I’d like to make an entire quilt out of them, but once again, there’s that matter of “when will I find the time”? I’m telling myself it’ll help me use up my bin of pre-cut 1 1/2″ strips. I’ll have to keep you posted on whether I get that going or not!

9 responses to “Tiny Dresdens”

  1. candy says:

    Bring that tiny wedge tomorrow if you will. I have something I can use it for. :] Candy

  2. Lin says:

    Your idea worked really well – I love your Dresden. xx

  3. Cindy says:

    I love Dresdens. Never tried making them that small though.

  4. Wendy says:

    Cute mug rug! I have to try that. I have a little Janome Gem (two of them, actually). I’m dreaming of a bigger machine, someday. For now I’m happily getting things done!

  5. Pat Mac says:

    Really cute idea. I love making mug rugs out of scraps.

  6. Bobbi says:

    The mug rug you made is adorable! Thank you for sharing.

  7. Donna says:

    So cute! I love dresdens.

  8. This is so darn cute! I have two quilts w/ full sized Dresdens nearly ready to sandwich and no plans to make more, but seeing this is very inspiring…I may have to make some mini’s.

  9. Rose Marie says:

    Very cute little mini!!

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