Tag Archives: mini quilt

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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.

 

Scrappy Improv Quilting Blog Tour Schedule

8/31

Intro, Single Block Beauties, and Simple Shapes- Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

9/7

 

9/13

 

9/15

 

9/20

 

9/22

 

9/27

 

9/29

 

10/4

 

10/6

 

10/11

 

10/13
Sunset Crossing- Kate @ Katie Mae Quilts
Positivity- Sarah @ Sarah Goer Quilts (you are here!)

 

10/18

 

10/20
Sweet Bee (a bonus thank-you pattern), Finishing, and Wrap-Up- Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

 

Be sure to visit Kelly's blog, My Quilt Infatuation, as she is sharing all her versions of the quilts she made for her book.

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My passion is planned improv piecing. I enjoy giving myself a set of rules to follow (or break!) as create.

While demoing my technique in my All About Angles classes, I always cut up some fabric to show how I create my starting pieces. Sometimes these are part of a work in progress, but sometimes I just start with a new pile of fabric I'm excited to work with. In this case it was the latter. I started with five Alison Glass Kaleidoscope solids: Tomato, Sunflower, Raisin, Cherry, Goldenrod.

I was drawn to this autumn palette. As I put together my improv piecing, I was reminded of the changing colors of the Fall season. I find labeling the selvage edge of my solid fabrics with a sharpie to be a helpful way to remember which color is which. In this case "AG" is for Alison Glass.

I opted for a variety of weights and colors of thread for walking foot quilting echoing my piecing lines, Aurifil 12wt Paprika (#2270), 40wt Brass (#2975), 50wt Yellow (#2135), and 12wt Burgundy (#1103).

I finished the quilt with a faced binding and a mini sleeve. (Label coming soon!)

Fractured is 12" x 12". It is my first SAQA donation piece, for this year's SAQA Benefit Auction, which will take place September 10 through October 3. Be sure you are subscribed to my newsletter if you'd like to be reminded of the auction in September. If you'd like to have me visit your guild or group to teach my All About Angles piecing technique (or one of my other workshops), please send your program chair to my Teaching page.

Thanks for visiting!

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I've been teaching All About Angles workshops since 2019. This project is actually the first quilt top that I pieced for myself in this style, way back before that time. I had selected the color palette, because these sunset colors called out to me and the pile of fabric hung out together on my shelf for quite some time before I cut into it to create this small quilt top.

Like many quilters, I've been wanting to finish up some of my WIPs. I participated in a 100 Day Project January 30 - May 10, free motion quilting for at least fifteen minutes a day. I prioritized finishing up quilt tops, including this one. I spent 33 days quilting this 24" x 19" quilt, meaning I spent well over 8 hours quilting it. I really enjoyed the process since I worked a bit at a time and wasn't hurrying to meet a deadline. This is important for me, because I am generally a procrastinator who is super motivated by a deadline, which can really limit the possibilities for the late stages of making a quilt. Can anyone relate?

I started by extending the diagonal lines from the piecing as well as reflecting them, continuing until I had divided the quilt into many areas of a variety of sizes. This step could have been done with a walking foot though I chose to free motion these lines. I marked my lines with a chalk pencil or disappearing marker.

Then I really had fun, choosing a different motif for each section, I started by echo quilting within the section before filling it in with the chosen motif. These motifs came from my usual FMQ toolbox as well as inspiration from Step-by-Step Texture Quilting by Christina Cameli (my newest quilt book) and The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christina Watson (affiliate links). Everything is quilted in 50wt Aurifil: Magenta (#2535), Red Orange (#2245), Bright Orange (#1133), and Medium Purple (#2545).

Pin for reference. Some of my motifs were very small patterns.

Sunset All About Angles was finished with a faced binding, which was a choice to further emphasize the quilting as the star.

My All About Angles class is available to guilds on Zoom. I teach a set of rules to create improv units that use the same angle, with no math or special tools. There are so many ways to utilize these units in a final composition. Please send your guild program chair to my teaching page for all the info. Thanks!

 

I've linked up to May's Favorite Finish linkup with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.