More Mini Madness

I've been having a lot of miniature quilt fun this weekend. First, I finished the top for my mini London Roads quilt, which will be patterned in an upcoming McCall's Quilting:

At 4 1/2" square, the blocks aren't REALLY mini, but almost! It went together really well, and certainly brightened up my sewing space and my winter-weary disposition.

After that, I decided to play with my Homecoming mini sampler blocks. I pulled out a fabric palette to start with, and realized the initial block I made awhile back wasn't going to work. So I remade that one and added the other 3 from the design center, and then surprised myself with my sashing fabric choices...I went into this thinking I'd use light-colored sashing, but that just didn't fly:

This is so not my usual style or colors. I'm not 100% sure I like it! But I'm planning to keep on keeping on and see where it takes me. The upper left and lower right blocks are hand pieced, and they were HARD. The other two are machine pieced and were much easier to put together. All blocks finish at 3" square, so pretty tiny! All told, it does definitely remind me of my PA home, and that's the theme, so yay. More later!

Summertime in My Sewing Room

I've been working on a summer table ensemble for McCall's Quick Quilts, and it's really been a spirit-lifter. The fabrics I'm using are sweet, pastel-colored batiks from Timeless Treasures, and it's a great break from the snow and ice just to handle them. The piecing was easy...a chevron design make with all rectangles. Once that was done, I marked each placemat for straight-line quilting:

Next, layering and pin-basting:

Then on to the quilting. I used my walking foot:

Then trimming the edges even:

I used precut 2 1/2" strips for the binding, a different color for each place mat:

I decided to try all-machine-stitched binding, so first it was sewn to the back of the quilted mat:

Then turned to the front and stitched down, which was harder to do neatly than I anticipated:

My awl became my new best friend. It really helped with handling the binding and getting the stitching straight and even:

Finally, all the mats were pieced, quilted, and bound, and the napkins made:

One more little project to go before this ensemble is finished. Here's a clue! More photos when I get to this part: