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!

New Miniature Quilt Project

First draft of Homecoming mini sampler

I'm so excited about the new project I started this weekend. It's a miniature sampler that could be done as a block of the month, and the theme is Homecoming. 2014 is the year in which I hope to return to Pennsylvania, after 11 years in Colorado, so going home is very much on my mind. I might as well make a quilt of it, right?

I started with the Home Again Block:

Finished size 3" x 3"

This one is all template piecing, which I decided to do by hand in front of the TV:

Plastic templates ready to use

First I joined the A and B shapes to make the block center:

Here's the back. I trimmed seams to about 1/8", and swirled them at the center to reduce the bulk:

Now I'm working on setting in the background pieces. More soon!

Bonham Beauty Mini Update

My mini Bonham Beauty is coming along. I have half of the tiny ovals appliquéd now. Here's a closer look:

I sewed scrap fabric strips on the border, encasing the raw edges of the quilt, because it was starting to fray a bit with all the handling. I'm hoping that will protect it until the rest of the appliqué is finished. Due date is November 1, which sounds very far away but is NOT. It needs to be quilted and bound, too! I'm hoping for more progress this weekend, but I have a lot of work home with me. What are YOU quilting this weekend?

Mini House Quilt

The House that Kaffe Built, miniature version

I'm in the mood for another mini, even though I still have work to do on my mini Bonham Beauty appliqué quilt. The little house quilt shown here is foundation-pieced with Kaffe Fassett prints, and it was a LOT of fun to make. I need another pieced mini...soon! If you'd like a free pattern for the house quilt, you can download it here, thanks to McCall's Quilting.

Mini Quilt Love

Whole lotta quilting fun going on here today! I edited all but one of the patterns for the next issue of McCall's America Loves Scrap Quilts, and I plan to do the last one tomorrow. Plus, I appliquéd all the leaf shapes on the mini quilt, and started on the tiny ovals. I made a circle template for placing them correctly:

So far I've glued down 3 circles of 8 ovals each, like this:

I've stitched down 2 of those circles. I'm very encouraged! I didn't realize until I was doing it that I really doubted whether I'd be able to get decent results with the tiny shapes. They're not perfect by any means, but when the piece is up on a wall, they look pretty good! More photos soon.

Back to Mini Madness

I finished prepping and gluing on the larger appliqué shapes for the mini vintage quilt today. The entire quilt is about 23" square, so when I say "larger" I mean like 3/4" x 1 1/2" or so. Now it's time to stitch them all down. After that, I'll add the smaller shapes, the ovals about the size of a little finger's nail. Can't help it...I love tiny things. Here's a detail of things at present:

All the shapes inside the blocks are already stitched. It's the ones crossing over from block to block that need to be done now. So...off I go!

Stay Tuned

I read that Tim Gunn is going to lose his temper with the remaining Project Runway contestants tonight, so it's another hand stitching evening. I'll be right in front of the TV, watching the fireworks! And appliquéing miniature blocks. Love Project Runway!

Designer's Block

I'm a bit stuck with the Valentine table runner. I've drawn at least a dozen possible layouts and none of them are making me happy. It's time to back off for the evening and do what always makes things better....hand stitching. I'm going to appliqué a couple of little blocks for my miniature quilt project, and let my mind drift. More soon!

Mini Madness

Honestly, it's worse than potato chips. I can't stop working on this miniature quilt! It's a tiny remake of an antique quilt from York County, PA, and the hand applique is absolutely addicting, in the nicest possible way. Do you see how itty bitty those ovals are? Like, 1/2" or so, that's how itty bitty. The blocks finish at 5", and the quilt will be about 23" square. The original is 91" square, so this is a quarter-size version. The print fabrics are by American Jane for Moda and I'm really liking them for this design. But I digress...the point is, I can't stop working on it, and it's after midnight. Tomorrow morning my eyes will feel like sandtraps. But tonight...we sew!