Dresden Sunflower Coaster Tutorial

So I finally got around to writing the tutorial for my 

Dresden Sunflower Coasters! 

To make the sunflower coasters, I cut strips of yellow fabric 2” wide. Using the easy dresden ruler by Darlene Zimmerman, place on strip of fabric at the 2” mark and cut. You will need 20 petals for each sunflower.

To make each petal, fold piece in half lengthwise and stitch ¼” seam across top (widest end). I like to string piece these to make them faster.

Cut them apart and turn them. I used my bamboo point turner. Once turned, press so the seam is centered. This makes your point centered.

Take 2 petals and match top edge with raw edges even and stitch ¼” seam. *It is more important that the top edge is aligned as the bottom will be covered with the center circle.

Continue adding petals until you have sewn all 20 petals. Sew the 20th petal to the 1st petal to form a ring.

Press seams all in one direction.

To Make the Center:

Cut a 4 ¼” circle from brown fabric. Baste ¼” around edge. Place a 3 ¼” cardboard circle template on top of your fabric circle and draw up the basting threads. Press, then carefully remove the template.

Pin center to sunflower.

Again, using the 3 ¼” circle template, cut a circle from batting. (I used Warm and Natural.)  Center on back of sunflower and pin (from top) in place.

Using my circle cutter, I cut a 6” circle from muslin. Applying the same technique as for the center circle and a 5” cardboard circle template, I formed a large circle and pinned it to the back of the sunflower over the batting. It should cover the raw edges of the petals. (This is where it is important that you pinned the batting circle from the top side.) I hand stitched in place.

Turn over sunflower and stitch around center circle, close to edge. Quilt as desired. I used a crosshatch to resemble the seeds.

You Are Done! Enjoy!

This tutorial is for personal use only. Please respect my design. Thank you.

If you make some coasters, please email me a picture as I would love to see your creation. If you have any questions, please email me Ü

Here is the link to Google Docs in case you want to download the tutorial.

What did I work on...

for the Friday Night Sew In? 

After a very unexpected dinner invite and fun evening with our very close friends, I came home and started sewing. I already planned on working on a tutorial that I will be sharing soon. So I got to work sewing and taking pictures of the process for the tutorial. (I like tutorials with lots of pictures). I will only share some peeks today so stay tuned for the whole process. 

some strip piecing and scrap busting...

finished....

I also stated working on another vintage dresden. 

before removing from the soiled backing fabric

ready for a new project ♥

Now off to see what others have worked on...won't you join me here?

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent a lovely evening with my family downtown Chicago at Millenium Park. We had a picnic dinner, some wine and enjoyed the concert.  More about it and pictures later.  

Now if you are a regular reader, you may remember that my birthday was the closing date of my giveaway.  Thank you all for visiting.  So without making you wait any further...the lucky winner is #34...Peach Rainbow...she was born in January!  Congratulations!! I will send you an email shortly but should you see this first, email me your address and I'll get your package out promptly.

I will close this post with a few pictures of things I been working on...

Finished Dresden plate pillow...read more here.

Have you tried this?  It is actually quite relaxing to do and they look pretty cool!!

   These are pretty simple designs. They can get quite complicated.

Getting it done!

Yesterday I had some alone time that I used to sew! 

My DH was out of town all week and scheduled to fly home on the red eye getting in at 5AM today. Due to some computer problems United was experiencing nationwide, he didn't get home until 8:30AM.  My DD2 & DD3 were at work so I had the house to myself from about 4PM.  

And there is a lull in wedding activities...does this mean we are getting close to being done? A perfect opportunity for Friday Night Sew IN!!

I started with my June Birdie Stitches BOM which I had been working on and ever so close to finishing...and now it's done! 

I love all the different fonts! 

There was a lot of stitching in this block but I really like it.  What do you think?

I next moved on to work on my blocks for the Simple Things QAL.  Earlier in the day, Kelly posted the directions for the first blocks.  This was perfect timing for FNSI.  All the pieces were already cut out so I got busy sewing.  

These little blocks are so cute! 

 I'm hopeful that I will be able to keep up once wedding plans speed up again and take precedence over sewing. At least I'm off to a good start! 

I finished all these and it was only 8:30...plenty of time to start another project!

My very dear friend gave me some vintage dresden plate blocks that were from her grandma.  

Long ago, she tried to make them into something

cut up a couple of them and starting making them into pillows. 

She never finished them. She asked if I could do anything with them.

  

They were very soiled from years of being in storage. 

So a couple of weeks ago I started working with them.  

I unstitched the worked she had done removing stuffing that was in each center and point.  I then hand washed them to see if I could remove the stains that had badly soiled the fabrics.  I was pleasantly surprised with the results. 

Some of the fabrics were also faded, {one lost almost all its color} but they are sew pretty.  

There are 4 cut and 9 with the background fabric in tact.

On Thursday, I bought some Kona cotton in green to use as a background 

{in anticipation of FNSI}. 

After some thought, I cut a square of green 22" 

{the dresden's measure 14" across} 

and unpicked 1 dresden from the old background fabric.  

I centered it on the new pretty green fabric and hand stitched it. 

I then needed to make a choice for the center fabric.  I originally intended to used the cutest green polka dot with a vintage look but decided it took away from the dresden points.  

So I cut a circle of Kona snow and hand sewed it onto the center.  The center circles of these dresden's are 6 1/2" across...it needed something...so I found some perle cotton in a soft pink and stitched a row of big stitches.  

The results....

I'm in love!

It was time to call it a night...but I will work on making this into a 20" throw pillow.  

Hop over to Bobbi's at Crafty Vegas Mom to see what everyone else worked on.

And there is still time to enter my giveaway. Just go here.