#16 Fish in the Attic

#16: Fish in the Attic
Finished: 4/19/12
Techniques: Attic Window, Fussy Cut Fabric, Mitered Corners
Size: 14 1/2" x 14 1/2"

Description: An "attic window" is achieved by adding two fabrics to two adjacent sides of a third fabric and joining them with a mitered corner. Typically the two fabrics are a light and dark in order to create a sense of depth, or a "window" effect. I used some peach and orange mottled fabric as my light and dark for the attic window. I also used red mottled fabric for sashing between the windows.

"Fussy cutting" is when you cut fabric in such a way to show off a particular design. As I've mentioned before, I have a lot of fish fabric so it was the logical choice for fussy cutting, even though fish in windows may seem silly. Hence the title of the mini-quilt.

#15 Spring Has Sprung

#15: Spring Has Sprung

Finished: 4/15/12

Techniques: Curved piecing, Couching, Thread Painting, Flying Geese, Bargello, Paper-piecing, Raw-edge applique.

Size: 15" x 17 1/2"

Description:

Last week, we had some great weather here in Colorado Springs. Unseasonably warm, so it brought on some spring fever. I decided to do a collage by pulling out all the green fabrics I could find. I also practiced many techniques. I did the flying geese in lime greens on a curve using the paper-piecing method. I did some bargello piecing and raw-edge appliqué of some green strips. I pieced some cactus fabric and golf fabric and then a mottled green on one side for some thread painting of flowers using green embroidery threads. I used various green buttons from my button jar for the centers of the flowers.

I like doing collages and will probably do others in different colors as time goes on.

On a different note... After doing last week's convergence quilt, I realized that my self-imposed restriction on the size of the mini-quilts is a little too restrictive. I originally wanted to limit the size so that the mini-quilts wouldn't take too long to complete, but some techniques really don't take that much time, and some quilts would show the techniques a little better if they're somewhat bigger. So, I'm going to take away the size restriction. 

#14 Nebula

#14: Nebula

Finished: 4/8/12

Techniques: Ricky Tims' Convergence-style, Free-motion quilting

Size: 18" x 21 1/2"

Description: Ricky Tims is a quilter who, I believe, still lives in Colorado. He's pretty well known for what he calls "convergence quilts" and I've always wanted to try one. Basically you take 1-4 pieces of fabric, sew them together, cut strips, interchange the strips, sew them back together, turn the piece 90 degrees and cut, interchange and sew together again. There are variations, but this is how I approached this piece.

nebula fabric

I had this piece of fabric which is wonderfully bright and colorful. I didn't have enough of it to do too much, but after reading Tims' book, it seemed to be perfect for this project. (See unaltered fabric at right.) Many of the projects in the book have a border that really sets off the convergence. Since I didn't have time to plan a border (I was on vacation and out of town for half the week), I decided to add a narrow black strip for interest. Quilting was done free-motion in a medium scale meandering which shows up somewhat in the picture above. The fabric and the convergence quilt itself reminds me of nebulae in outer space, hence the title.

I love this fabric and with I had much more of it.

#13 Mariner's Compass

#13: Mariner's Compass
Finished: 4/1/12
Techniques: Paper piecing, applique
Size: 12 1/2" x 12 1/2"

Description: A more traditional mini-quilt this time. I've often admired the mariner's compass design especially when the spikes have two values of the same color, giving them some sense of dimension. I have several colors of the mottled fabric, so I could create sort of a color wheel design too.

I drew out the design myself and used the paper-piecing technique to piece the compass together. It allowed me to have very nice sharp points on the spikes. The gold center was appliquéd on after the rest of the piecing. I like paper-piecing a lot and have done several blocks using that method. I also particularly enjoy creating the designs myself.

I usually like to put bright colors against a black background - I like the effect. However I decided to try a white background instead. It looks OK, but the white I chose was a little too lightweight, and some of the seams of color come through as you can see from the picture.