Tag Archives: mini quilt

Quilted Plates of Food • 8 Comments

sarah • January 21, 2022

About a year ago I participated in the I Spy book release blog hop by making these two quilt blocks from the book. Each is a paper pieced block in which I chose to use solid fabrics.

It is season 13 of Project QUILTING and as much as I love to participate, I really have been focusing on finishing works in progress. I'd convinced myself that instead of participating in this season's one week quilt challenges by conceiving, starting, and completing a quilt in a week (for each of the six challenges) I would choose a WIP from the pile to complete that would fulfill the challenge theme (for an unofficial finish for the challenge). When the All the Colors challenge was announced on January 2, I scanned the list of WIPs and sussed out what would work for "All the Colors." The description had indicated that the quilt needed to use "at least five colors" so I chose my burger block to finish for the week.

Well, then my FOMO took over and I decided to make a little ATC mini quilt as an official submission for PQ 13.1. And the burger and watermelon blocks remained on the table.

Fast forward to last week, our week off between PQ challenge weeks. I decided to go ahead with my plan to finish up these mini quilts. I'd always envisioned finishing them as round quilts like the food is on a plate. They'll be going to my niece and nephew who are still of the "play food" age.

I knew I needed a bias binding to bind my round quilts, but was unsure if I could pull it off with machine binding or if that would be a struggle. With Cassandra's encouragement, I went for it and the machine binding went very smoothly.

Each of my quilts finished at 8" in diameter. The burger is quilted in Aurifil 50wt Toast (#6010), Red (#2250), Yellow (#2135), Chocolate (#2360), Very Dark Grass Green (#2890), and White (#2024). And the watermelon is quilted in Aurifil 50wt Red (#2250), Green (#2870), Black (#2692), and White (#2024).

Thanks for visiting. If it's not on your radar, there's still time to make a quilt for this week's Project QUILTING challenge.

Inspired By • 2 Comments

sarah • November 19, 2021

My friend Ellyn and I are both inspired by architecture for our quilt designs. Earlier this year we decided it would be fun if we exchanged photos as our inspiration for mini quilts.

The photo that I gave Ellyn was of a door at the Rock of Cashel in Ireland. I took so many photos of the great architecture (and nature) while on my trip to Ireland in 2019.

Her mini quilt is 13" x 13 1/2". I enjoy how she emulated the uniformity and angle of the elements of the door in her piecing. And her quilt laying on the stone in her photo is on point with the stone surrounding the door in my photo! You can read more about her project over at Ellyn's Place.

Ellyn's photo was taken in a small town in Northern Texas. Photo by Ellyn Zinsmeister, used with permission.

I used the direct inspiration of the colors of the building together with the architectural design of the pops of color in the architectural detail at the top. (Sometimes when one is improv piecing, the little bits start skewing downhill instead of the uphill that you intended, and you just go with it.) My finished mini quilt measures 9" x 7". I used walking foot quilting and finished with single fold machine binding.

Do you use photos as inspiration for your quilt designs?

Positivity Mini Quilt – Book Blog Tour • 6 Comments

sarah • October 13, 2021

Welcome to my stop on the Scrappy Improv Quilting blog tour!

In 2018, I created Citrus Beach Retreat, my version of Kelly Young's Beach Retreat pattern from her first book, Stash Statement. Today I'm sharing a mini quilt from her latest book, Scrappy Improv Quilting. Both books are available from Kelly's Etsy shop or from large retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

One of my favorite ways to use fabric scraps is to sew them together into what I call a Scrappy Slab. My newest guild offering is a live lecture/demo on Zoom demonstrating my technique. In August, during my presentation for Tuleburg Quilt Guild, I sewed together my turquoise scraps which was the beginning of this quilt.

I chose to make Positivity, a 20" x 20" mini quilt. Mine features turquoise and navy scrappy improv paired with Kona Peapod for the background. I quilted with a variety of colors and weights of Aurifil in irregularly spaced vertical lines.

Kelly's book features 22 mini quilts in a variety of styles, all using her scrappy improv as the feature of the design. This is such a great way to get some of your fabric out of the scrap bin and into a finished quilt! And the book is packed with tips and tricks for every step in the quilt making process.