Material Obsession, not just the name of my OCD {Craft Book Month Blog Hop + giveaway}

Wow! That's the longest title for a blog post, EVER!

It's my turn to share for the Craft Buds blog hop!

(details for the giveaways at the end of this post)

One of my favorite quilt blocks ever is a chubby dresden!  I made my first one as part of my first online quilting bee over 3 years ago! It won me over!

The pieces were sent to me already cut and ready to go. That made it so much less intimidating!  At the time I didn't realize that it was from a book that I purchased shortly after that.  Material Obsession by Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty.

I remember buying the book because it was when I first got back into sewing and I felt like buying a quilt book would authenticate me! heheh!  This was actually the first quilt book I ever purchased. I didn't know that the cover pattern would be one that I would use over and over.

Because I would still be working on making the whole quilt featured on the cover I chose to make some minis/tabletoppers with this pattern.  I  made two (almost) identical table toppers:

I love polka dots, so I mimicked the small red dot on white for the background with these bright colors!  I love the way it sets it off.  And the pink on red sunspots from Amy Butler are always a great choice.

And a quilt block for another bee:

One of the secrets of these blocks is that I didn't applique the center circle down in a traditional manner.  I used a raw edge applique and just stitched it down!  The top one has a zig zag stitch, the second one is straight stitched with a pinked edge, and third is straight stitched on a straight cut.  I want to learn to really applique, so maybe I'll do that for my next one!

I don't always enjoy the cutting portion of quilting so I cut a bunch of plates out at the same time. I just used a cereal box to make the template.  It worked pretty well, but since then I've bought an acrylic dresden ruler and hoping that will work a little easier.

I also have an idea to reduce it in size to make some smaller dresdens! Won't that be cute!?

I think Dresdens have so much potential! Planned, scrappy, whatever! This past year I had a few people make me some Christmas Dresdens for my month of the bee.  I think a whole quilt of Christmas wreath dresdens would be amazing!

photo courtesy Rebecca's Rags

photo courtesy Darci - Stitches and Scissors

Dresdens are one of those things that can look so intimidating but once you try them they can be addicting!  I love the modern look of this pattern too.  One of the best things about sewing is that you can take any pattern and make it your own!  I hope you try one of these, they make me happy just looking at them!

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This post is part of the Craft Book Month blog hop at Craft Buds.

Week One

Sunday 9/2: Hopeful Threads / The Jolly Jabber
Monday 9/3: Stitchery Dickory Dock / Me Sew Crazy
Tuesday 9/4: Olive & Ollie / Sew Sweetness
Wednesday 9/5: Fabric Seeds / The Busy Bean
Thursday 9/6: CraftFoxes / Stitched In Color
Friday 9/7: Katie's Korner / A Prairie Sunrise

Week Two
Sunday 9/9: Sweet Diesel Designs / missknitta's studio
Monday 9/10: Sew Tara / Clover and Violet
Tuesday 9/11: Sew Fantastic / amylouwho
Wednesday 9/12: Projektownia Jednoiglec / Two More Seconds
Thursday 9/13: Ellison Lane Quilts / Don't Call Me Betsy
Friday 9/14: Live a Colorful Life / LRstitched

Week Three
Sunday 9/16: Fairy Face Designs / Canoe Ridge Creations
Monday 9/17: Inspire Me Grey / Freshly Pieced
Tuesday 9/18: Lindsay Sews / The Cute Life
Wednesday 9/19: The Littlest Thistle / Sew Crafty Jess
Thursday 9/20: Urban Stitches / imagine gnats
Friday 9/21: Sew Bittersweet Designs / The Plaid Scottie

Week Four

Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from Sept 23-30 from your blog or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. Winners will be announced on Monday, October, 1!

To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! One entry per person, and all craft book projects must have been completed in 2012. Just create a new blog post or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2012 or later) and link back to Craft Buds in your post or photo description.

No time to create a project? This month, just follow Craft Buds and comment to win some new craft books and lots of giveaways!