Dresden Daisies

Looking at my six butterfly blocks last Thursday, I thought that flower blocks of some kind could complete the quilt top. I decided to try something I've never done before, and make Dresden plate blocks.

I don't have a special ruler, but I do have a pdf from Quiltmaker magazine, found here. I also watched the video on that page that gave me the idea of making pieced backgrounds:

Cutting 48 wedges using a paper template wouldn't be terribly successful, but this tutorial solved that issue:
Dresden plates without a specialty ruler
I printed two copies of the Quiltmaker template, then stuck them to a regular ruler:

I think it is the thickness of the ruler that makes it look like the templates aren't right against the cutting edge, because they are. This made it easy to cut each side and create the wedges from strips of fabric.

Wedges cut and points sewn:

Pressed:

Joined:

Pressed:

I pressed all the seams to one side. It wasn't until I had them pressed that I knew exactly how big these Dresden plates would be. I used the maximum length of the Quiltmaker template, and that gave me a plate 32cm, or a bit over 12.5", across.

I stitched them down with a narrow zig-zag, and added centres using Karen Kay Buckley's "Bigger Perfect Circle" templates. And here's the finished quilt top:

I'm sure it looks brighter in real life. This was a fun project, and I learnt a few things along the way, which is always good.