Original Mini: A Finish

I started this mini on a visit to AZ way back in 2010 (I think... I had to call my friend bc I honestly couldn't remember). She was taking a sewing class and was going thru her fabric stash. I helped and got to pick put what I liked (which worked out to be things she didn't like, mostly) as a reward. I started hand sewing this mini then and there on her guest bed. 

Here we are 6 years later and I've finished it! This mini was a big inspiration to start quilting again. And it holds a spacial place in my heart

The quilt top is made up a various vintage, reclaimed and found fabrics. The backing is mostly a piece of lizard skin-ish green batik. Both were pieced in Chandler, AZ, at the house of my BFF, where she lived with her parents at the time. I had to add a bit of new black fabric to the backing to make the rolled binding.  

Original mini was basted with a few scraps of vintage poly batting, and quilted with light grey cotton thread in a stripy pattern. I added some black thread as well. The binding is rolled from the back. This mini finishes approximately 27" x 27 1/2" with a very wonky edge. 

I added a new little tag, with the name of the quilt, dates, and my name. This little mini is on my Q1 list for the 2016 Finish Along. I made it just under the wire (last day for links ups!). But I'm feeling good about it!! It was also my OMG finish for April, so that deadline is ahead of schedule!

Original Mini has been hanging around so long, I'm sure all my helpers had a hand in it. So here is Tom on the day I finished. 

Scrappy Little Hearts: A Finished Quilt

This little strangely shaped quilt started out when I saw Cluck Cluck Sew's heart block pattern. I know a lot of people fell in love with this block this year. I didn't really have a plan after I made the blocks. 

But after I made them, I couldn't let them rest.  I had other projects I was working on but the little hearts called to me. 

I knew I also wanted to scrap bust this year, so I pulled a ton of green scraps and started to create wonky courthouse steps around the hearts. I linked it all together with some 9 patches in purples, mimicking the checks in the hearts. The quilt was looking a little crazy at this point so I added some calming solid boarders. 

I used the last heart block, and most crooked and crazy, for the back, as well as more solids. I sandwiched top and back together with some scrappy batting.  I used purple pearl cotton to go around each heart on the top and each 9 patch. Then used light green cotton thread to densely quilt the rest of the top. I embellished the boarders and back heart. 

I made a thin rolled boarder to finish it all off. Bc of the improv piecing, this quilt is a crazy shape and all crooked. It kinda averages at 37" x 37" but is measures as wide as 39" in some places. 

Pit was the biggest helper on this little quilt. He knows it would make a cute baby quilt, or play mat, or wall hanging. 

I washed this quilt and it got nice and crinkly. I was a little worried about how it would wash bc I used a bunch of different fabrics for the top. Mostly cotton but also some velveteen, and wool, as well as blends. This quilt doesn't have a label yet. 

This is my first finish of Q2 of the 2015 Finish Along. I have a feeling I'm not gonna get as much done this quarter, but I'm happy with this little finish!

Stormy Friendship Star: A Finished Mini Quilt

This is the first finish I'm posting for 2015. I've had a few others but with the snow stormy weather it's been hard to get any good photos. I was able to snap a few for this when the sun came out for a brief moment. 

This is also the first finish for Adrianne's (On The Windy Side) 2015 Finish Along. 

I started this mini when I was working on  another mini quilt top, so it's been done for many months. I used many of the same fabrics, vintage gingham, dots, and hearts, hand printed red cotton, and new anchors.  I added new storm cloud fabrics for borders. I made a plain red back with a vintage floral strip. When I layered them, I realized that I had made the quilt back too small, so added some dark blue borders on the back. 

I made a really scrappy pieced batting then I used cotton thread in matching colors to quilt inside the friendship star. For the rest of the quilt I used white pearl cotton.  I bound the edges with the fold over method that I like. I only bordered three sides in blue, so on the finished quilt front there's one red side. 

Stormy Friendship Star Mini measures approximately 29 1/2" x 29 1/2", but you can see, it's not exactly square. Is there a standard size or size limitation for mini quilts? This would be sweet wall hanging, or to drape over a chair or couch back. But it would also make a cute baby mat for a nautically inclined wee one. 

Bippi was probably most helpful on this quilt. But she did get disgruntled that it was so small. She prefers a larger size quilt to really give her room to sleep under. 

I'm also linking up with Kathy's Quilts today for Slow Sunday Stitching. Today she's talking about stress in stitching. Although the deadline for the Q1 finishes for the 2015 Finish Along is fast approaching, I feel pretty good about what I've accomplished the quarter.  Now I just have to make the time to blog about everything!

Belated Xmas Finishes

In November of 2013, we went to visit our Family in Tennessee. I had the idea that I would work on some mini mini quilts (table toppers. mug rugs, wall hangings, what have you) to give for xmas that year. I sewed diligently before hand and on the plane, but I couldn't finish them in time. When I did get them finished that xmas was over and the mini minis were far too Christmasy to give as late gifts. So I held on to them, and they were wrapped up for xmas 2014!

Back of Four Trees.

I made Four Trees specifically for my Mother in Law. It was the piece that I tried hardest to finish that year, but alas it wasn't meant to be. I used as many favorite scraps of red, xmas themed greens, and blues as I could find. The binding on the back got a little wonky. I used scraps of batting and quilted the mini densely with white pearl cotton. The only thing I added before gifting was a small label (which does not appear in the pics as they were taken way back at the beginning of 2014). This very small mini measures approximately 19" x 18 1/4".  

Night Trees

Night Trees is an even tinier mini I made for my Aunt using much the same techniques.  Although these minis are xmas themed and red and green, I tried not to make them too much about the holiday and more about the solstice. Night Trees measures approximately 16" x 12 3/4". 

Night Trees back. Pardon all the cat hair in these pics. 

I took all the pics shortly after they were finished in early 2014 and didn't look at them again until preparing for this post. If I had, I might have taken some more shots before they got wrapped. I hope everyone who received them as gifts enjoys the quilts as much as I enjoyed making them! 

One Tree. 

One Tree mini mini quilt is the smallest and most bright and was gifted to my Grandma. Most would consider this a "mug rug" I'm sure. I've never been entirely clear on what those are (over sized coasters?) and I like my work to have multiple uses, so whatever works, works. I'll have to see what my Grandma comes up with for it. 

One Tree back.

One of my first finished small pieces was a wall hanging using scraps of batik fabrics. I put various strips together and backed them with a mostly cream backing. I quilted it with cream embroidery floss in a diagonal pattern, and added little hanging loops. This piece moved around the house for a while and I thought to put it up on one of our doors. But I never felt quite right about it for some reason, so it never got hung. When I pulled the xmas minis out, I rediscovered it and thought to give it to my Sister in Law. That idea felt right!!

Batik Wall Hanging. 

As well as these, some other hand made gifts were given this year. I felt very happy that many of our gifts were home made, and that much of our time in 2014 was used creating, not shopping. I hope to keep that tradition up, and that more and more of our days are for making things, for ourselves and for our families and friends. 

Batik Wall Hanging back. I struggled with the little loops for this wall hanging, but ended up liking them. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their 2014 xmas season and has a happy and healthy new year!

Friendship Mini: A Finished Quilt

Right on the heels of making my first friendship stars, I started playing around with the scale of the stars. And this mini quilt was born!

This quilt has a name and was made for someone. But if I revealed the name, it would give away the surprise!

This mini measures approximately 31" x 31" and the star is about 25" x 25". The center of the star has vintage heart fabric and new anchor fabric. The points are the same vintage polka dots that I backed the First Friendship Quilt with. The background for the star is vintage green gingham. The sashing is a new dark blue fabric with multi colored bubbles. 

The backing is a deep green floral/paisley that was a gift from a friend. It has stripes of the same anchors and bubbles from the front. Both are new fabric bought on Fabric.com, I believe. 

I did a lot of hand stitching with light blue pearl cotton in and around the star, but left the dark blues un-quilted. I used my fold over double stitched method for the binding.  I like how heavy the quilting is, but there are still areas that are blank. 

I'm pretty sure that I used a scrap of batting left over from the First Friendship Quilt for this mini. All the quilting makes this one pretty snuggly. It would be perfect for a baby quilt or baby mat, and it makes for a nice pet quilt, as well. 

Tom was most helpful in the making of this quilt. Bippi wanted to help, but it was too small to work on and have her sit under, so she was mostly just annoyed. 

I haven't labeled this mini, yet, but I have washed it. It's very soft and supple.  Unfortunately while taking these photos, I noticed that the binding did not catch in one part of the quilt!

I knew I was cutting it pretty close,  but I've never had this happen before!! So, along with a label, this quilt will need a little repair before it heads to it's new home. 

Since all my quilts are hand pieced, basted, quilted and bound, I like to link up with Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday when I can!