October 2018 in Review/Lusk Mini Quilt #1 (Monochromatic)

Carolyn Friedlander is the reason I can make paper pieced quilts. I took a class from her at QuiltCon 2015 and her way of explaining the technique was super helpful. When she announced her Mini Quilt Along this summer, I knew I wanted to participate, even if the heat and my pregnancy sapped me of energy. I only managed to make one mini quilt, based on the first prompt, which was “monochromatic.”  I pulled a bunch of purple scraps and made a few mini Sessom blocks from Carolyn’s Lusk mini quilt pattern. It was my only finished in October, but it was a satisfying finish. The finished mini quilt is about 12” by 12” and I love it. 

Scrap Happy Arcs Quilt

Last month, I finished my first quilt after starting the Quilt the Book challenge. The Arcs Quilt is the first project in Savor Each Stitch and I really enjoyed making it. I love how Carolyn provides three examples of the pattern, each with their own thoughtful write-up. I made mine out of some of my favorite Cotton + Steel scraps. Before having a daughter, I avoided pink like the plague. I am drawn to it more now because it is my daughter's favorite color and reminds me of her.

Some people consider needleturn appliqué to be time consuming and tedious, but I find it relaxing. It’s also very portable, which is a huge draw for me as I have long bus commute with unreliable wifi. Since I averaged four blocks a day, I was finished with all the blocks in a couple weeks. Because it’s such a small quilt, I was done with the machine piecing before I knew it and was on to the quilting.

 

For the hand stitching around the arcs, I used a dark pink perle thread that my daughter had picked out ages ago when I made her visit the fabric store with me. While working on this quilt, I learned to appreciate why stitching in the ditch is so common. Stitching outside of the ditch, as I did in a few places, proved awkward and not as neat. Still, I really enjoyed the handwork.

 

For the border, I chose to machine quilt a few simple lines to make the border recede and the handwork pop. The binding and backing were from my Cotton + Steel stash. It was super satisfying to make this mini quilt completely out of scraps and stash and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve made this year. I’m looking forward to sewing up more projects out of this book.

Geese Over Fields

I love a good scrappy project. Using what you have on hand to create something is immensely satisfying. The top of this little mini quilt was made entirely from what was left over after I made Swoon Baby Quilt the First. When I trimmed some of the blocks, I was left with triangles that I then sewed together to make half square triangle blocks. Like with my Scrap Migration quilt, I turned those blocks into flying geese. The blue and green reminded me of the sky and growing things, so as I designed the top, I thought of geese flying over fields. The backing was a fabric I had in my stash, Crosshatch Sketch in Grass from Timeless Treasures.

For the quilting, I used white Perle thread to hand quilt the inside of the flying geese. The sky is machine quilted in grey Aurifil thread, and the fields in green. I really enjoy the contrast in textures that comes from combining hand quilting and machine quilting in the same piece.

This quilted finished at 21” square, and small size lent itself to trying a new-to-me technique, so I used my mom’s matched binding tutorial for the first time. I really like how it looks, so will definitely use it again in the future.

For more scrappy goodness, check out the monthly Scraptastic Tuesday link-up at She Can Quilt the second Tuesday of each month.

Cattitude Mini Quilt

One of the things I like about making garments out of quilting cottons is that the scraps can be easily incorporated into quilts (a novel idea, I know). Even after using up the leftover Catnap yardage from my Crazy Cat Lady Dress on a Cattitude Wiksten Tank, I still have scraps of these two fabrics coming out of my ears. I’m not complaining, though, since the little cat faces are just too darn cute. Since I already had quite a few full size quilts in progress or waiting to be started, I decided to whip up a quick mini quilt to scratch my itch. In addition to the scraps I wanted to use up, I grabbed a few fat quarters from my stash, cut out a bunch of 3.5” squares, and I was on a roll. The finished piece is 15” by 15” and I quilted it in a simple grid by quilting ½” from each seam on each side. It was super quick and super satisfying and will be super cute as a wall quilt.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts.

Mini Doll Quilts for the Traveling Toddler

Our family did a bit of traveling this summer, so I was on the look-out for small, portable toys that would keep my sweet toddler entertained on-the-go. Her favorite toys are baby dolls, but her normal dolls were too big for long trips. I bought a few Disney Princess Magiclip figures, which she liked, but something was missing. They didn’t have blankets! (My daughter loves piling blankets and quilts on dolls and people alike. I wonder where she gets it from?)

 

One evening, I sat down with my box of 5” charm squares and my bag of leftover binding, and in no time I had a custom mini doll quilt for each princess. I popped the dolls and mini quilts in a previously made drawstring bag, and they ended up being a welcome distraction while traveling.

 

 

Seaside Cabin

Log cabin blocks make me happy. The first quilt I ever made was a log cabin quilt, but I’ve more or less avoided the pattern since then, as there are so many blocks and techniques that I haven’t tried yet. A few weeks ago, I took Katie’s Improvisational Patchwork class, and one of the techniques was making an improv log cabin. We started with a strip pieced center, and then added scrappy logs to the design wall until we were happy with the results. I liked mine so much that I made a mini quilt out of it. (I also used a couple other blocks from the class in the backing.) Finishing at 8” by 12”, it was the perfect size for one of the walls in our house. This mini is named Seaside Cabin because the colors and relaxed piecing technique remind me of vacationing by the sea.

Double the Luck

I like to make things for my mom, especially quilty things. When I found this cute fabric with blue and green clover made out of hearts, I knew I wanted to make a St. Patty’s Day table topper for her. The yardage languished in my stash for far too long before I came up with a pattern that I liked. This block must have a name, but at the moment it eludes me. Once I started working on mom’s version, I fell in love with it so hard that I had to make one for myself, too.

To make these little cuties, I cut 5” squares out of the focus fabric and my blue and green scraps. Then, I cut some of them into 2.5”x5” rectangles and some into 2.5” squares, so that the focus fabric and scrappy fabrics alternated.

I actually started these quilts in March 2011. It took me so long to hand quilt my mom’s version that I decided to machine quilt mine. I quilted the same pattern on both, as I had never compared the results of the two quilting techniques side-by-side. The hand quilting is homier, but the machine quilting is much faster and cleaner-looking.

Of course, a handmade present called for a handmade gift bag, so I whipped up one of my fabric gift bags, based on a block made by HoosierToni. After I figured out the math from scratch, I realized that there is a tutorial at thought and found.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts.

Sunshiny Day Mini Quilt

Oh, the siren song of quilt alongs! Last year, unlearned in the hazards of craft blogging, I joined two quilt alongs at the same time: the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along at Don’t Call Me Betsy and the Warm/Cool Quilt Along at In Color Order. Too late, I learned that there is more to quilt alongs than sewing: they are rich, social experiences. Unfortunately, I had neither the time nor the energy last year to fully participate in either quilt along that I joined. I managed to complete my Kitty Kaleidoscope quilt at the end of 2011, and finally finished my Sunshiny Day mini quilt this month, eight months after I started it. Luckily, it was worth the wait.

I pulled a variety of cool solids and warm prints from my scraps and stash, used a bright gingham print for the back, hand quilted it in white Perle 8 thread and bound it in a yummy lemony solid. It now hangs on the wall of my sewing nook, where I can enjoy it every day.

 

Linking up with Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and Finish it Up Friday at crazy mom quilts.

UPDATE: Also linking up with the Festival of Half-Square Triangles at Canoe Ridge Creations.

Flashback Friday #18: Cheery Cherry Mini Quilt

Sometimes you don’t want to work on a big, complicated quilt. Sometimes you need something quick and easy and fun. Enter Cheery Cherry. Back in July 2010, I took a charm pack of Oh Cherry Oh fabric, made a bunch of half-square triangles, sewed them together and had a mini quilt top done in a weekend. It took me three months to hand quilt it and it was finished by the end of October 2010. These days, it brings cheer to my office.

Flashback Friday #17: Summer in the Suburbs Mini Quilt

Ah, the Moda tins. There is just something about cute fabric, a cute pattern, and cute packaging that, taken together, I find hard to resist. My favorite was the Tin Box Sampler for Summer in the City by Urban Chiks. The top came together over a quiet weekend in August 2010, and the whole thing was finished in September 2010. I learned two things from this quilt: I do not like partial seams, and I do like working with 1.5” squares. One of these days, I will tweak this pattern so that I can make a similar quilt without partial seams. This mini quilt is approximately 16” by 16” and now lives with a summery friend.