Flowers I Can Grow

Title: Flowers I Can Grow
Finished: 7/31/11
Techniques: gingham, machine stitches, grass stitch, wobble stitch
Size: 11 x 14"

This mini-quilt was the first one I did in the 2011 series. It was done in the Karen Linduska style as was the Grandpa's Sunset Roses in the 2012 series.  I used two different gingham check fabrics: a colorful large check for the background and a smaller light green check for the insert, which was appliquéd. I wasn't sure if the two checks would work together, but I think they do. The light green check was also used for the binding and backing.

The flowers, stems and leaves were made with a variety of machine stitches, widened and/or lengthened to create different kinds of petals and leaves. A single circle stitch made nice centers of the flowers.

The insert was made to not be a perfect rectangle, and the purple flower "grew" beyond the insert, which was also intentional. A grass stitch makes a border, and the quilting was done in a simple wobble stitch.

#44 Stained Glass Iris

#44: Stained Glass Iris
Finished: 11/4/12
Techniques: Stained Glass Effect, Satin Stitch, Machine Stitches, Appliqué, Bias Binding, Oval, Batiks
Size: 12" x 15"

A Stained Glass effect mini-quilt has been on my list of projects for a while now, so it was time to give it a try. Many years ago, I took a class and learned how to create stained glass designs. It was fun, but I don't think my sense of color or design was as developed as it is today. But I have seen quilts done in a stained glass style and thought they looked pretty good.

Batiks, hand-dyed, and mottled fabrics work very well, as they emulate the subtle differences and imperfections in stained glass. Originally, I was going to use bias binding tape to simulate the lead lines holding the pieces of "glass" together. I was going to make the bias tape myself, but found it too difficult to get the narrow size I needed for the mini-quilt. So I figured a good satin stitch would work just as well.

I created the design for this iris, chose the fabrics, starched them heavily, let them dry and ironed them flat. When they're starched like that, cutting with a rotary cutter is pretty easy. I could cut the pieces from my design without regard to seam allowances, since this was basically an appliqué process. I laid them onto the sky blue fabric and used a glue stick to keep them in place.

Before actually starting the satin stitching, I used my failed narrow bias binding to lay out where I wanted the lead lines. Thinking back to the stained glass class, I knew what curves and intersections would work with glass, so I tried several permutations until I found one that was pleasing to the eye (although I think I could have done better with a few more tries). I then marked the lines with a marker that disappears when ironed, and working with batting and a heavy stabilizer, proceeded with the satin stitching.

Quilting was simple. I used a straight stitch for the sky and some machine stitches for the grassy areas. But since I had already done the satin stitching, I had to "jump" over places in the sky part of the quilt. I have to remember that stopping and starting quilting stitches in the middle of a quilt doesn't work very well, unless you leave long enough tails to tie them off in the back. I also thought about adding stitches to the iris itself, but then thought it would detract from the stained glass effect. In hindsight, I don't think I should have used the machine stitches in the grassy area either; some straight stitching probably would have sufficed. Oh well.

I had also intended on making this a rectangular piece, just as all my other mini-quilts have been. But something about the stained glass design just cried out for an oval shape. But how could I make a perfect oval? I knew that eye-balling it wasn't going to work. So I used the poster function of Microsoft Publisher and inserted an oval shape with specified dimensions, printed it off and cut out the inside of the oval. I was left with a template to frame the mini-quilt, upon which I traced the cutting line. Then I cut the black fabric on the bias to make the binding. It wrapped around the piece very nicely.

I do like the way this one turned out.

#21 Dresden Plate

#21: Dresden Plate
Finished: 5/27/12
Techniques: Dresden Plate design, Stitch in the ditch, Blanket stitch, Applique, Satin stitch
Size: 15 1/2" x 15 1/2"

Description:
A traditional mini-quilt this week. The Dresden Plate design is one that I haven't tried before, but I found it pretty easy to do. The "blades" of the plate are from different floral calico prints I have. There are 20 blades, each a different print. I used a template found in a book on Dresden Plate designs - it's more or less a trapezoidal shape. Making the peaks in the blades was easy - simply fold the blade in half and sew across the top. Once you turn the fabric to the right side, the peak forms automatically. Dresden Plate designs don't have to have peaks; you can make the blades with flat tops or rounded curved tops too, but I like the peaked look. And besides, those other tops require turning the fabric under, whereas the peaks are turned under automatically because of the way they are stitched.

Once all 20 blades are sewn together, you lay the whole thing on background fabric and applique into place. I then cut out a circle of the background fabric and satin stitched to the center of the plate. I stitched in the ditch around each blade, and used a blanket stitch in yellow around the outer edge of the plate. I was amazed that the 20 blades came together into the circle shape and laid flat onto the background. I was sure there would be too much or too little fabric somewhere so that it wouldn't lay flat. I would imagine that a very accurate 1/4" seam would be quite important as would accurate cutting of the blades. I must have done all right, because it lay beautifully onto the background.

Choosing the background was tricky, because I didn't want a solid fabric, but did want the blades to show well. The fabric I chose was a bit unconventional - it was a pale pink geometric print and it's a polyester! It was a bit heavier that the cottons I normally use for quilting, but the hue and design were just right, so why not?

I can see making a whole quilt with this design, with maybe some sashing pieces between blocks. It would make a great scrappy quilt.

#17 Strange Flowers

#17: Strange Flowers
Finished: 4/29/12
Techniques: Hand Embroidery, 3-D, Curved Piecing, Creative Use of Zippers, Yo-yo's, Buttons
Size:12 1/2" x 14 1/2"

Description: So if I'm going to finish one mini-quilt per week, what do I do when I'm out of town on vacation? I don't usually do hand sewing, but in this instance it was appropriate. I just packed the supplies I needed and because it's mini, it's portable!

Actually, I did do some machine sewing before leaving, piecing the background, adding a simple quilting grid using a wobble stitch, and attaching the binding on the front, but the rest was done by hand. The stems of the flowers are zippers, which I've seen done before and thought it was clever. The flower heads are "yo-yo's" created by cutting out a circle of fabric, turning under 1/4" on the edge, hand sewing a loose running stitch around the edge and pulling it tight. The result is a circle approximately half the size of the original circle, with folds creating a three-dimensional effect. One of a kind buttons from my stash sewed on as centers.

The hand embroidery added a little flavor to the overall design. I used a running stitch on the stems, a blanket stitch around the yo-yo's, a lazy daisy stitch for individual flowers on the ground, and a stem stitch to create the leaves. I think more embroidery stitches would have added to the design, but I ran out of time.

#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. 

#11 Butterflies in the Garden

#11: Butterflies in the Garden
Finished: 3/18/12
Techniques: Landscape quilt, raw-edge appliqué, ombre fabric, free-motion quilting, pieced binding.
Size: 15 3/4 x 19"

Description: I've always been fascinated by landscape quilts and thought I would try one as a mini-quilt.  I started with an ombre fabric which did very well for the background. The colors shifted from blue and white to green, yellow and orange. The blue and white did well for the sky and although most of the other colors were covered by the appliqué, some of them peek through as ground cover. I had one 3" wide strip of tomato fabric which I cut and used in the foreground, hoping to give a feeling of depth. The butterflies were cut from fabric and I included about a 1/16" of surrounding beige fabric. It works well because it helps each butterfly stand out but still appears to be a part of the butterfly itself.

I used invisible thread for the free-motion quilting and I'm particularly happy with the quilting in the sky, which is done in a loopy meandering style to represent the flight of the butterflies.

I also pieced the binding so it wouldn't detract from the landscape. At first I was going to use the sunflower fabric in the lower half, but the dark green separating the sunflowers proved much too dark. I found a batik with green, blue, red and purple colors that was much more subtle and seemed to do the trick because of the way it simulated flowers and grass. The backing was more of the sunflower fabric.

#10 Wanting for Spring

#10: Wanting for Spring
Finished: 3/11/12
Techniques: Pieced background, Raw-edge appliqué, mitered borders, free-motion quilting
Size: 18 x 19 1/4"

Description: I am really ready for spring! If only the weather would cooperate. So I created a cheery little scene to help me through this last part of winter.  I pieced the background with various scraps of yellow. I didn't do any planning for this. I simply started pieced little pieces together and sewed those to bigger pieces, etc, until I had a large enough canvas to work with. Then I appliquéd flowers from a large print fabric on top and stitched them down.

Framing the scene is a wood-grain fabric left over from a bookshelf quilt I made years ago for some friends of mine. I mitered the corners - a new technique for me. In the past, I've always done squared off corners. It wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined and it came out very well, I think. The effect is a wooden picture frame, or perhaps a window frame.

The central scene was quilted on the diagonal, but the frame, or border was quilted with a free-motion technique following the wood-grain of the fabric. I don't particularly enjoy free-motion quilting, but maybe I just need more practice.

#1 Furrows of Flowers

Mini-Quilt #1: Furrows of Flowers

Finished: 1/8/12

Techniques: Strip Quilting, Stitch in the Ditch

Description: I have a lot of flower or leaf fabric in my stash, so I gathered them all up and choose several that coordinated. I used 2 1/2 inch strips, pieced them, then cut and stitched at angles for added interest. It reminds me of the time several friends and co-workers got together to make a quilt in one day for a friend who lost much in a house fire. We had everyone bring fabric with flowers - any kind of flowers, any sized prints, any color. The blocks were sashed with green solid fabric, and it was great how everything came together.

One funny note: In my haste to finish this mini-quilt, I added the backing fabric upside-down - a print of a golf course left over from a quilt I made for my nephew.  But since no one will ever really see the back, I left it that way.