Category: 2017 Finishes

2 Mini Quilt Finishes

Posted on by clothandpaperstudio

Just last week I finished 2 mini quilts for 2 different IG swaps last week-ish.

First up is a mini mini that I made for the #quickminiswap hosted by @mel_si_a_swapaholic. It had to be based on my partners likes and mosaic. My original idea was a bust after the “purple” fabric I ordered online arrived and was not really purple, so this was my backup idea.

Those are 0.5″ hexies that were done using a mini charm pack of Grow by Me & My Sister Designs (which my partner said she liked) and the background is purple (my partner mentioned that she didn’t have a purple mini yet) and is Cotton & Steel (which she also mentioned she liked).

For the quilting I knew I wanted to combine a bit of echo quilting with matchstick and that I did not want the quilting to go over the hexies. They are so small I was afraid they would get lost under the quilting so using invisible thread I machine appliqued each and every 0.5″ hexie. When that was done I switched to white thread and made 1 echo around the overall shapes. Then I decided I wanted to come down from the edges and carry that into the echo. I did this  2 times on each outer edge. Then I realized that in between the shapes I didn’t have enough room to do 2 more full echos for both shapes. So, each shape had a turn. And if/when I got to a quilted line while making the echo line, I didn’t quilt over it. So, it’s kinda link the middle quilting is woven over each other – first one than the other and so on. Then I did matchstick quilting in the remaining space that followed the pattern on the background fabric. This one finished around 9.75″x10.25″ if I’m recalling correctly.

Up next is this cutie for the #EasterBunnyQuiltSwap hosted by @shoppershaz_swaphost. While I was hoping to do something artsy – my partner’s mosaic was more traditional so I went directly with a pattern she shared on her mosaic. It’s the Bunny Quilt Pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

The colors are directly from my partners like list which included gray, teal and low volume. After it was done, for the quilting I simply outlined the bunny and then did straightline quilting around the bunny. The width between quilting lines is the width of the foot I was using on my sewing machine. This one finished around 14″ sq.

I’m enjoying participating in IG swaps. I’ve got another finish to share with you in a few days and (IMO) it’s freakin amazing! See you tomorrow. Till then, have a wonderful day!
-Mel

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1 Hour Basket Finish

Posted on by clothandpaperstudio

My first 2017 Q2 FAL is #3 – a 1 Hour Basket by KelbySews for a swap I’m in. I finished this on 04/03/2017 but am just now getting around to writing about it. When I seen Three Dandelions Shop on IG post the swap I was excited at the possibilities of how to personalize the basket. My inspiration came directly from a mini quilt that was posted on IG in a mosaic.

This is NOT my mini, nor photo. I have no idea who’s beautiful mini quilt this is. If you know, please let me know so I can credit them. This image was posted on a profile as part of their inspiration mosaic for a swap (not for this swap either).

I did switch it up a bit from the picture. Instead of the blocks they used, I did mine using HSTs. After graphing it out, I determined that I needed to have 4 blocks tall and 7 blocks across to make the 10.5″x16.5″ panel I needed for the front panel. Going to my container of random 5″ charm squares I pulled out all the blues I had. After sorting them by value, I narrowed it down to the ones I wanted to use. 2 extra light, 4 light, 4 medium, 4 medium dark, and 2 dark. Then it was time to make the HSTs using the method where you sew around all 4 edges and then cutting them diagonally to end up with 4 HSTs from each 2 charm squares. After playing around with the layout, I sewed them all together.

Not wanting to have to deal with loads of ends to tuck in from the quilting, I decided I’d quilt first and applique after. I have to tell you, I’m so happy I did! I did the quilting with just the top panel and the fusible fleece ironed onto the back. After the quilting was complete, I appliqued the two turtles onto the panel.

After that, I simply followed the directions for the rest of the basket.

I’m very pleased with the way it turned out and I hope my partner will be too!

For this swap, we’re also supposed to fill the basket with $15-20 worth of goodies for our partner based on their likes. The first thing I did was to notice the little corners that were cut off and wonder what I could do with them. I decided they would make cute little pin cushions and most of the work was already done.

There were 2 sides already sewn together so I simply sewn up the 3rd,

turned it inside out, stuffed it with the rest of the scraps from this project, folded the raw edge in and hand sewn it shut.

I did this with both corner scraps and now have 2 cute little pin cushions that cost me nothing more than a few moments of time to add to the basket for my partner.

Now to go shopping for the fillings! Till next time I hope you have a wonderful productive day.
-Mel

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Not Just for Quilting

Posted on by clothandpaperstudio

UPDATE: Voting is now open thru 4/15! I would really appreciate it if you would go to the Aurifil website and vote for my mini. It’s the very last entry #21. You can only vote for ONE mini! To vote simply click on the little heart in the upper right corner of the image. Thank you very much! Your vote is greatly appreciated.

When I first came across the Aurifil “Sew Mini Colors” challenge, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. The image of the mini literally just popped into my head. Then came the, ummmm, how should I actually make this happen? LOL

The spools are done Trapunto style so they appear to be 3D.

The centerpiece I hand embroidered, sewn the brown edge on, and then appliqued it to the top.

The threads are free motion embroidered to resemble a large spool of Aurifil. Yes, I intentionally made a hanging thread from each of the spools. Why? because that is just how my spools look – unless of course they are brand new in the package still. lol

I call it “Not Just for Quilting”. Why? Because while I use Auriful and Kona both all the time for things other than quilting. 🙂 This hand embroidered center piece is just an example. I attempted to make it look like an embroidery in the hoop. That is why it’s brown on the side.

Regarding the colors I used. For the Aurifil that’s easy – I used white (all my piecing), #2630 for the quilting to match the background, and I have the mini collection “Simply Color” by V and Co which has colors: 1231, 2423, 2730, 2715, 2530, 5006, 1240, 5003, 2214, and 2625 in it. As far as the fabric colors. Well… I really can’t tell you. The fabric shop is over an hours drive from my house. With a over-active toddler. In a fabric store… Yeeeaaaaaa. I simply held up the spools of thread to the bolts of Kona to find the ones that most closely matched while attempting to keep my toddler from running around the entire store or filling up the cart with things she wants. Plus, since I couldn’t find all I needed at the first store, I actually had to take her to TWO fabric stores in one day!?!

Actually, after a conversation on IG, I went searching for my receipt (I made a special trip to get the fabrics) and can name several of the Kona cotton colors I used thanks to them being labeled on the receipt. 🙂 At the one store I purchased: Snow (the centerpiece and quilt back), Coal Gray (background), Chartreuse, Baby Pink, Pool, Sunny, Eggplant, Pewter, Red, Riviera, and Chocolate Brown (edging around the centerpiece to make it look like an embroidery hoop). The others I cannot name because they came from a quilt store (Magical Stitches in Macon, GA) and their receipts are not itemized like that.

The paper piecing pattern Sew Mini Colors from Whole Circle Studio was not a problem. The technicalities of how to do the rest of it was the challenge for me. You see, I like to do things a bit different. I do not think I’ve ever once followed a pattern exactly without putting my own spin on it. That’s just the way I am.

There were times of the past couple of days that I did not think this mini was going to come to be in time to enter the contest. If you follow me on IG then you know of my issues… But I’ll tell you all about those another time.

So anyhow. I’ll do another post when I have more time explaining how I actually made this mini quilt. But for now I’ve got to call this post done since the linkup is only open till midnight…

I’m linking up with:
Let’s Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday over at My Quilt Infatuation
Free Motion Mavericks over at Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday over at Busy Hands Quilts
Show Off Saturday over at Sew Can She
Slow Stitching Sunday over at Kathy’s Quilts
Monday FUNday over at That’s What Che Said
Monday making over at Love Laugh Quilt

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