Tag Archives: mini quilt

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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?

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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!