Improv Dresden plate finished

Once I had taken this UFO out of my cupboard, I realised that there wasn't that much to do, which is fortunate as I can't remember how we made the Dresden plate blades. I drew up an oval in CorelDraw and printed it out onto light card to use to applique a centre in black and repeated that with a second oval in the butterfly fabric which picks up the colours of the blades.

I did simple quilting in white extending the lines of the blades to the edge and a simple swirl in the centre oval. Then I machined a 2.5" folded binding to the front of the quilt. I think another time 2.25" would suffice. I chose this size as the quit is destined for Romania and will be well used, so I felt a machine stitched binding would be better. I then pressed the binding outwards from the centre and got out my Elmers school glue.

This glue is now widely available in the UK from WH Smiths as it's used to make slime. My 20 year old daughter couldn't believe how excited I could get over glue. It was an unexpected find in our town centre. I apply the glue along the stitching line of the binding on the back of my mini quilt and then press the binding to the back of the quilt and the heat of the iron sets the glue and holds it firmly for the next part.

 You may have noticed that I haven't matched the stripes on the binding. All I had of this stripe was one fat quarter, so matching was not an option, and as it's a busy design, I don't' think the mismatch is too distracting.

I swapped to the number 10 foot on my Bernina as it has a central guide. The only difference to how I've seen others machine the binding is that I turn and take four stitches into the mitred corner to hold it down.

I should have fussy cut the centre of the oval better and made a narrower binding, however it's a pleasing finish which will be given to a Romanian family through a local aid charity.