Dresden Stairs quilt

Welcome to my pit stop of the inspiration tour for the EZ Dresden Challenge, presented by the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild and Simplicity. I am so excited to share my EZ Dresden finish with you today, it feels like it's been eons since I finished a quilt I could blog about!! I'm calling this quilt Dresden Stairs.

The Dresden Plate is a really classic, uber-traditional block and Darlene Zimmerman designed a fantastic ruler for Simplicity called the EZ Dresden ruler.  It's designed for making a dresden plate with petals ranging from as small as 1" tall to as tall as 8", and it can be used in lots of other fun ways.  Did you see Lee's Lifesavers quilt? Or Kati's modern baby quilt? Two very different quilts, both built from the same simple ruler. I'm a full-on ruler geek; I love lots of different quilting rulers and this one is no exception.

From the get-go, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do for this project, but I started by pulling some fabrics in a color palette I was excited to work with, and cut a bunch of dresden petals from them. I put the petals up on my design wall and moved them around in several different ways before I came up with the idea of creating a stair-step effect with the petals pieced in a straight line.

I really enjoyed working on this quilt, and I especially enjoyed free-motion quilting this quilt. I'm trying to spread my FMQ wings and try things other than just stippling, so for this one, I decided to FMQ in the negative space rather than on the patchwork, to try to emphasize the patchwork. I stitched a continuous line swirl pattern all throughout the negative space, and though at first it was frustrating and made my eyes water from concentrating so hard, it ultimately became a lot of fun once I got the hang of it. I will definitely be FMQ'ing like this again! I used Aurifil 50 wt for this quilt the whole way through, and oh my goodness, it just glides through my machine like butter! The stitching is so smooth, especially during FMQ. Love it!

Quilt Stats
name: Dresden Stairs
size: 45" x 54"
pattern: original, using an EZ Dresden ruler
fabrics: Free Spirit Designer Essentials Houndstooth in Aqua, Dear Stella Basketweave in Yellow, DS Quilts Bias Plaid Pink, DS Quilts Large Floral Pink, Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Beads, Annette Tatum Boho Chevron in Orange, Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Herringbone in both Berry and Pond, Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Acorn Chain in Pond, Patty Young Lush Running Stitch in Creamsicle, Art Gallery Gold Lace, Kona White
backing: Bazaar Style Imperial Turquoise by Pat Bravo and Meadowsweet Peony Plaid by Sandi Henderson
binding: Modern Whimsy Circles in Park by Laurie Wisbrun
quilting: overall continuous line swirl pattern, by me

Be sure to visit Colleen today, too, as she's sharing her EZ Dresden Challenge project!  For more details on the challenge, including the amazing prizes and the other blog hop links, visit the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild.

And now, for the giveaway! Enter here to win your very own EZ Dresden ruler! There are so many possibilities with this ruler, I highly recommend working with it, it's a lot of fun, and you have plenty of time to cook up your own challenge entry before the project link-up gets underway in September. To enter, simply leave a comment here, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 14th.  Good luck!

For more inspiration and ideas for the EZ Dresden Challenge, follow along with the blog hop:

• June 1:  Salt Lake MQG: Kick Off
• June 2: Lee from Freshly Pieced
• June 3: Kati at from the blue chair
• June 4: Victoria from Bumble Beans Inc, Tanya from Squares and Triangles
• June 5: Val from How About Pink Please, Leigh from Leedle Deedle Quilts
• June 6: Amy from Amy's Creative Side,  Elisa from Stitch Outside the Ditch
• June 7: Katie from Swim Bike Quilt,  Emily from Em's Scrapbag
• June 8: Melissa from Happy Quilting Melissa, Brooke from Pitter Putter Stitch
• June 9: Nicole from Mama Love Quilts, Amy from Don't You Know Who I Am
• June 10: Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy,  Colleen from The Busy Bean
• June 11: Faith from Fresh Lemons Quilts, Deonn from Quiltscapes Quilting
• June 12: Angela from The Artists' House, Barbie from The Quilting Mill
• June 13: Amy from Diary of a Quilter
• June 14: Jessica from Sew Crafty Jess
• June 15: Salt Lake MQG: Wrap-up