Charming Dresdens

We all have them - those sweet little stacks of 5" squares that are so irresistible in the quilt shop or online, but then we wonder: What will I do with them? I've made quite a few quilts using these little treasures and today I want to share one of my latest.

 A few dozen Kaffe Fassett 5" charm squares

I actually cut these 5" squares from my own yardage. No pinked edges! Here is another set with those pinked edges. This is the Briar Rose Collection by Windham from a few years ago.

I decided that I wanted to make a Dresden Plate quilt. And I did, but I only had enough for a table runner. This sits in my dining room and makes me happy every time I see it.

Dresden Plate table runner using charm squares

Here is the 16 block quilt I put together last week. I had cut those 5" squares a few years ago but they sat in a drawer trying to get my attention. They finally all screamed together at once: "LET US OUT!!" I had no other choice but to obey!

16 blocks in my Charming Dresdens quilt. 40" x 40"

How did I get there? Here are a few steps from the pattern (and several more are in the 7 page directions). I used my 18 degree multi-sized Dresden ruler and cut out two wedges per 5" square. Almost no waste! (If you bought my Modern Vortex or Orange Crush patterns, those rulers will work!)

80 dresden wedges cut from from 40 5" squares

Stitched them into all these pointy wedges.

80 Dresden wedges stitched

Then I pieced them into sets of 5 and added a triangle for the base. (No circles for me; I want easy!)

Shot cotton squares for base of Dresden sets

Here they are before I appliquéd them to the background squares.

16 sets of dresden wedges

And, I'm sure you want to see that sweet little quilt again, right? Here she is (and all those 5" charm squares are dancing all over the face of the quilt, so glad to be out of the drawer!)

Charming Dresdens quilt

You can find the pattern with or without the 8" Dresden ruler in my Etsy store:

Charming Dresdens digital pattern: $6.99

Charming Dresdens hard copy pattern AND ruler: $15.00 plus postage