Dare to Dresden and a Giveaway!

Did I Dare to Dresden? Why, yes, I did!!

I am SEW excited today to be participating in my first blog hop.  I would like to thank Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for coming up with such a fun idea and Christine at Quilt Monster in My Closet for being such a great cheerleader for this monster hop with 100+ bloggers.  In fact, it's so big that Christine decided to make a map showing you just how many bloggers out there are crazy about Dresdens!  See... there I am in Austin, Texas waving to you in purple!



I have always had an interest in trying Dresdens but never really knew how I wanted to use them.  Also, appliqué is not my strong suit, so I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew for a quick project.  So, for my first attempt I decided to do a fun little mini quilt to hang up in my sewing room to commemorate my first blog hop.  I won a fat quarter stack of this great vintage-y looking sewing-themed fabric last year (it's the Pinelope line by Anna Griffin) and didn't really know how I wanted to use them.  I just loved the antique scissors and a Dresden plate seemed like a great way to highlight them since I knew I wanted to fussy cut those little guys.

So, full disclosure, I actually made THREE of these before I made one I was happy with.  The first two, I cut with a traditional template that would have needed hand appliqué.  I cut and started to appliqué but I just wasn't happy with the precision I was getting on my points (plus I was moving slower than molasses and mama had a deadline!).

So, as with all sewing problems, I started searching around the blogosphere to see what was out there.  I was really thrilled when I discovered a handy little tool that allowed me to create a great Dresden without having to appliqué the edges.  It's called the Easy Dresden Quilt Tool and let me tell you, it saved me.  I've noticed many of my wiser and more seasoned hoppers with this blog are already aware of this magic little guy, but if you've never Dresden'd before, you should definitely check him out.

This little tool worked wonders for delivering perfect points WITHOUT having to appliqué.
















 I hope you've enjoyed my project and will stay a while and check out my other projects I've got going now - I'll be back next month in the Hugs & Kisses Blog Hop - clearly I'm a hoppin' fool these days :)

In honor of my first blog hop, I'll be giving away one of the Easy Dresden Quilt templates for my first ever giveaway.  Here are the very simple rules:  

(1) For your first entry, please leave me a comment about this post.

 (2) For a second entry, please follow my blog and add another comment below telling me you've done so.  If you are already a follower, just let me know that.

(3) I'll accept entries until January 30th and draw a winner randomly.  

The lucky winner will get their very own Easy Dresden Tool so that you can start making your own easy Dresdens.

Thank you SO much for stopping by to check out my stop on the hop.  Please make sure you stop by the other bloggers today who are sharing their Dresdens - there are some amazingly talented folks out there, so support their efforts and stop by their blogs as well:

A Reformed Heath'n

Meadowbrook

Rosemary B @ “that Other Blog”

Stitch Duchess' Crazy & Sane Quilting World

Grammie Q’s

Bumbleberry Stitches

Sunshine Girl

Spiral

Butjenter Quilter

Blooming Where I am Planted

Quilting Lodge

The Tilted Quilt (that's me!)

Life in the Scrapatch

Pretty Bobbins
In The Boon Docks

Sew Much and More

Threading My Way
Pink Ribbon Quilts
Thimble Mouse & Spouse