Seeking advice - quilt in progress

[BleuRose]

I inherited my mother's quilt top of appliqued dresdens. She added the sashing diagonally. In the side triangles she has penciled in flowers and butterflies. I am asking for suggestions on how to finish the top as I'm very new to quilting. I don't know if mom intended an embroidery or an applique finish. I've purchased stabilizer for either finish. The dresdens are early prints and she used a blanket stitch for the applique. I'm also concerned about how the 'Sandwich' should be quilted. If anyone has made such a quilt I would welcome your ideas. I'm thankful for any and all suggestions.

[Helen W.]

Blue Rose, I googled quilting on Dresdan Plate blocks and there are tons of
images. Here are 3 examples. Look at the stitching both in the plate and the background. Hope this helps to get you thinking about what would look good.
HelenW

[Helen W.]

Blue Rose, I wrote a reply and it showed up twice so I tried to delete one of them and it deleted both, So will try again. Your mother was an excellent piecer. Beautiful
construction and those prairie points on the border are wonderful. If you are a beginner quilter are you planning to do it yourself or find a longarm person for the
quilting? My only concern if you plan to do it, the contrast of the stitching of
your mother's high quality and what a beginner would look like might be distracting.
You could do a few sample blocks to see if you think you can actually do it.
A table runner with 3 dresden's and butterflies would be a great way to learn and
audition ideas. The stitching in the centers in yellow gold look like a fly stitch to
me, not a blanket stitch, but I can't really see it very well. I would embroidery
stitch the butterflies using the color thread of the block you are working on.
I showed you 3 ideas for the quilting in the post above. If you have more questions please post them. What size is the quilt? Were you thinking hand or
machine quilting? You could hand embroidery the butterflies, and machine stitch the quilt. If it was mine I would probably have a professional do it, since it is
such a treasure. I have done both in my 30 years of quilting, and I have to admit
I like the ones my longarm friend does, better than my own quilting on my domestic machine. HelenW

[BleuRose]

I've sewn most of my life in addition to cross-stitch, embroidery, crewel and knitting. I intend to finish the handwork but have it machine quilted on a long arm as I have so many projects waiting to be completed. I am considering line embroidery (not filled) or applique with solid colors as I don't have much of her old fabric stash and I don't want to use reproductions. Mom was a perfectionist in many needle art forms. I will recheck her 'fly stitch' because I want to follow her lead.
The examples you shared are really beautiful, thank you! I appreciate the time and explanations you gave as well. I will embroider some practice squares first to see how my own hand work looks.

[BleuRose]

Blue Rose, I googled quilting on Dresdan Plate blocks and there are tons of
images. Here are 3 examples. Look at the stitching both in the plate and the background. Hope this helps to get you thinking about what would look good.
HelenW

Thank you for your suggestions, much appreciated!

[Helen W.]

Thank you for your suggestions, much appreciated!

BleuRose, Did you watch Catherine Redford's episode on The Quilt Show.It is show number 3112. She wrote a book called
Butterfly Stitches. I bought it and it is wonderful for ideas for hand embroidery on the background, and she also has wool
applique patterns that have hand embroidery in that book. Even if not for this quilt, I bet you would love doing some of her projects
or just using her techniques. C and T Publishing has a class on their Creative Spark online classes where she teachers
all the stitches. It is great. I posted a couple pictures of my starting attempts of hand embroidery. The first one I call
backstitch Moose, the other one is just stitching a coloring book page. HelenW
PS How many butterflies on the quilt? Can you post a picture of the whole quilt top? It is so beautiful, I would love to see it.