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.

Amish Tribute

Title: Amish Tribute
Finished 8/21/11
Techniques: Amish design, Rail Fence, Solid fabrics, Machine Stitches
Size: 15" x15"

Description:
This is #4 from my 2011 attempt at a mini-quilt per week. I had seen a program, I believe, on "Sewing with Nancy" where they were discussing typical Amish style and design. I decided to give it a try.

In my research, I learned that Amish quilts have evolved over the years. This mini-quilt represents somewhere in the early/middle of their evolution when Amish quilts employed simple geometric shapes only in solid colors, and usually on black background. I tend to prefer dark backgrounds myself because the colors that are used in the design tend to "pop," as is the case here.

I also learned that the Amish women, never wasteful, weren't too worried that their colors didn't match exactly. If they had two or more shades of green, that's what they had and that's what they used. So you will notice that in each of the four central colors, blue, green, purple, and pink, there are subtle color variations. The simple "rail fence" (or split rail fence) design uses only two rails - black and the color - positioned so that there's a stair step, or zigzag, design. I've seen rail fences with three or four or even five rails, but two seemed appropriate here.

I also learned that the inner border, red in my case, is usually of a different color than any of the other colors in the quilt. I couldn't find out why, so I may have to check out a real book on the subject and read up on it.

The corner squares mimic the four main colors used in the mini-quilt.

Where I deviated from the traditional is that I did this on the machine and not by hand. Also, I employed some machine stitches for a little flavor.

Oceans Blue

Title: Oceans Blue
Finished: 8/14/11
Techniques: Curved piecing, couching, ribbon, buttons, yarn, machine stitches, free motion stitches.
Size: 12 1/2" x 20"

I've started my spring cleaning process, and have come across other mini-quilts that I've done in the past. And since I haven't completed a mini-quilt in a while, I thought I would start to showcase some of my earlier works.

A few of you already know that my 2012 mini-quilt project was not my first attempt at creating a mini-quilt per week. Late in 2011, I had started such a project but before I could finish my 6th in the series, I became quite ill and had to abandon the project. I didn't have the Blog then either. This is #3 of that first series.

I started out by piecing curves, which came out quite well. Then for some reason I don't remember, I decided to cover up those seams with ribbon, yarn or stitches. Only a couple of the seams are truly visible.

The layers of the blue fabrics and the embellishments have significance too. The stars at the top to represent the sky, the flowered batik for things floating on the water, the free motion circles for bubbles, the eyelash yarn for plant life, the curves and ribbons for the ocean currents, and the buttons for stuff on the ocean floor.

Overall a peaceful, calming mini-quilt.

#51 Poinsettia

#51: Poinsettia
Finished: 12/22/12
Techniques: Paper-piecing, free-motion quilting, machine stitches
Size: 19x19"

Description: The inspiration for this mini-quilt was the poinsettia fabric used in the border. I created the central poinsettia design and paper-pieced it together. I could have used the same red print fabric for the entire poinsettia, but chose instead to include a second lighter red print to add a little spice to it. I like the effect. The yellow dots in the center are made from a circular machine stitch.

The flower was quilted with a straight stitch that I ran forward and backward along the leaves. Surrounding the poinsettia and in the border I used a free-motion loopy stitch.

I'm afraid I haven't taken good pictures lately. The last few mini-quilts look much better in person than in the pictures.

I apologize for the brevity of this posting, but there isn't really much else to say about this mini-quilt, and I'm busy getting ready for Christmas.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Merry Christmas!

#48 Advent Calendar

#48: Advent Calendar
Finished: 11/30/12
Techniques: Pockets, Fussy Cutting, Machine Stitches
Size: 23 x27"

Description:  A couple of months ago, my friends in the CC Quilters group surprised and delighted me with gifts of several Christmas fabrics from their stashes. Adding those to my own Christmas fabrics, it didn't take me too long to come up with the idea of creating an Advent Calendar with pockets for goodies. I just had to wait for the beginning of December.

I researched Advent Calendars and found that the numbers vary: 24, 25, 26, 31 or 32, depending on what you are counting down to. The most common number is 24, so that's what I went with. I sketched out several ways to lay out 24 squares and I liked this pattern the best. I fussy-cut the 22 different pocket fabrics in rectangles and folded them over for smooth tops of the pockets. (There were 22 pocket fabrics instead of 24 because I was able to fussy-cut one fabric three different ways. Can you tell which one?) The next step was to stitch on the numbers, which I did with a satin stitch with tapered ends. I then sewed borders around each pocket and sewed them together in rows, with a white print to carry out to the edges. Binding was done with the cute candy cane fabric one of the ladies provided. Quilting was done in white thread with  a fancy machine stitch.

This was an easy one to sew, and I love it because it is so festive and because my friends thought to do something so nice for me. Thanks, ladies! And the best part is, I still have fabric leftover.

#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.

#43: Halloween

#43: Halloween
Finished: 10/25/12
Techniques: Ruth McDowell technique, freezer paper, machine stitches, curved piecing
Size: 20" x 19"

Description: I've always liked the combination of the Halloween colors of lime green, orange, purple, and black. So I pulled those colors from my stash and created this pumpkin using Ruth McDowell's technique of using freezer paper to piece the design.

The process went pretty well, but the curved pieces gave me a little trouble, probably because I was cutting a few corners in a hurry to get done.  Still, it came out pretty well.

The mini-quilt looks better in person, but one thing that shows up well is the fact that the lime green fabric with purple rectangles almost looks fluorescent!

#41 Black and White and ...

#41: Black and White and ...
Finished: 10/13/12
Techniques: Black and White, Machine Stitches, Strips
Size: 24 1/2" x 18"

Description: As much as I like working with bright colors, I've always admired black and white quilts too. Those that I've seen, especially those with splashes of color, I've found to be very striking. I hadn't thought that I had enough of a variety of black and white fabrics in my stash to create a black and white mini-quilt, but once I started looking I decided I did. And then I found that I had numerous strips of black and white, and that cinched it.

When I started creating the rectangles, I didn't like the look. Even though I tried to abut "light" black-and-whites next to "dark" black-and-whites, there was not enough definite delineation between the fabrics for my liking. So I ended up buffering different fabrics with solid whites or solid blacks and that helped a lot.

Quilting was done with a machine wave stitch. I think this will make a nice wall hanging.

#39 Grandpa's Sunset Roses

#39: Grandpa's Sunset Roses
Finished: 9/30/12
Techniques: Machine embroidery, machine stitches, applique
Size: 14 1/2" x 13 1/2"

I was inspired by a new book I got from the public library, Creative Uses for Decorative Stitches by Karen Linduska. I used several of the techniques listed in her book to create this mini-quilt.

I've been remembering my grandfather's rose garden back in Maryland. When we were growing up, we would visit my grandparents' home and I loved walking through the maze of roses. My favorites were the yellow, orange and pick roses he grew. I don't know the actual name of those roses, but I called them sunset roses because of their colors.

I used the machine embroidery unit on my sewing machine and the roses design that came with it. I find that I don't often use the embroidery unit, but this project was a good opportunity. I added other machine stitches in the form of leaves and greenery. The portion of the mini-quilt to the left is done with  machine stitches sewn close together, as described in the Linduska book. It represents the maze or rows of roses of my grandpa's garden. The individual portions were sewn separately and appliquéd onto the background.

#38 Prairie Point Landscape

#38: Prairie Point Landscape
Finished: 9/23/12
Techniques: Prairie Points, Machine stitches, Free-motion quilting
Size: 30" x 15"

Description: I've made prairie points before, but just as examples. I've never incorporated them into a quilt before, so it was about time I did. I had some purple fabric with white whisps that did well for sky (it really is purple but looks blue in the photo), and I used a green leaf fabric for the grass and tan for mountains. Cutting these into strips allowed me to add many prairie points creating a stylized landscape design. I used various browns for mountains, white for snow caps, florals for fields of flowers, and rock fabric for rocks.

Before sewing, I placed the prairie points on a design board on loan from Pam Jones (thanks, Pam!). I felt it needed something more, so I added a pine tree. Once I did that, the mini-quilt was too wide for the design board, so I took advice from another quilting friend, Jan Keder, and stapled a piece of batting to the wall. It works really well too!

And still, when I looked at the landscape, there was a lot of blue sky. So I added some clouds. Because I made the prairie points at different times, I didn't realize how many I actually made until I counted them all up. There are 66 in total. I was surprised - it really didn't seem like I had made that many. They are very easy to make.

I found two methods online for making prairie points. The first was to take a square of fabric and fold diagonally, then fold again perpendicular to the hypotenuse. This creates a prairie point with a pocket on the side in which you can nest another prairie point. I used this method for the majority of prairie points. For the pine tree, I used the other method for creating a prairie point. I folded a square lengthwise, then folded down the upper corners to the bottom center.

Originally, I had intended to simply appliqué a piece of brown fabric for the tree trunk. But it didn't seem right, somehow. I wondered how to construct a tree trunk from prairie points. When a prairie point is made, there is a raw edge that is usually sewn into a seam. I could have left a raw edge and sewn over it as I did with the snow caps, but I decided to turn under the raw edge and butt prairie points next to each other and zigzag over them. It made a nice effect.

Quilting was done with machine stitches and some free-motion stitching for the sky. I bar-tacked a couple of the larger prairie points so they would stay vertical, but most were left free standing. This is one mini-quilt that looks better in person than in the picture. It was fun to do!

#37 Autumn Kaleidoscope

#37: Autumn Kaleidoscope
Finished: 9/14/12
Techniques: Stack 'n Whack, Kaleidoscope, Stitch in the Ditch Quilting, Machine Stitches
Size: 17" x 17"

Description:

backing fabric

This is the first time I've tried this kaleidoscope technique, and I really enjoyed it. The key is finding the right fabric and having enough of it to have eight repeats that you can cut out. The fabric I used for this mini-quilt is also what I used for the backing, shown here.  I like it because of the variety of fall colors.

The Stack 'n Whack method means that I had to line up eight strips of repeating print design one on top of each other as precisely as I  could. This took time, but wasn't too difficult.  I made a triangle template with 45 degrees at the apex and cut into the strips. Then I inverted the template and continued cutting out triangles. Then I sewed the triangles together to form the kaleidoscope. I even sewed a fifth kaleidoscope that I didn't include in the mini-quilt. Adding the black background was simple, and I used various machine stitches and stitched in the ditch for the quilting.

unused kaleidoscope

If you look very closely, you can see that not all the triangle wedges are identical. Even being careful trying to line up the fabrics, things get a little off. But the nice thing about the design is that you really don't notice the little errors.

I was delighted by the variety of kaleidoscopes that were formed from one fabric. But my first attempt at a fabric was not at all successful. I started out with a beer bottle fabric. I thought that the variety of colors would make an interesting kaleidoscope. I now believe that the fact that the beer bottles are isolated (or in other words, surrounded by black background), made for a poor kaleidoscope. You can start to see a slight kaleidoscope emerge, but it doesn't coalesce. I'll just have to find another use for the beer bottle fabric.

beer bottle fabric

beer bottle kaleidoscope

Having a small amount of background does seem to add to the design of the kaleidoscopes. This combined with a multi-colored print in which the images overlap would make for good kaleidoscope designs. I would very much like to make a larger quilt using this technique.

#30 Pole Bending

#30: Pole Bending
Finished: 7/29/12
Techniques: Needle-turn appliqué, decorative machine stitches
Size: 34 1/2" x 11"

Description: This week I learned about Pole Bending. My cousin* Robbin was competing in the National Little Britches Rodeo this past week in Pueblo, and I got to meet up with her and her family on Wednesday. Robbin's event is Pole Bending, which I knew very little about.  Six poles, evenly spaced, are set up in the arena. From the starting gate you run your horse to the end and then weave in and out of the poles down and then back again, and then finish by racing back to the starting gate as fast as you can. All without touching or knocking over the poles.

I had this horse fabric in my stash and added a black border on top and bottom. In Pole Bending, only one horse rides at a time, of course, but that would have been boring for a mini-quilt. I like how the geometric diamond design of the print lends to the idea that this is happening in an arena. For the poles I used a decorative machine stitch on solid green fabric which coordinated with the print, then cut out the pole shapes and hand appliquéd them on using the needle-turn appliqué technique. This was the first time I'd ever use needle-turn appliqué and I think I did it badly. I wanted the poles to be straight, but as you can see, they are very crooked. I had basted them on to the background, and I had applied interfacing, but apparently it wasn't enough to hold them perfectly in place. So my poles bend, which wasn't what I intended, but perhaps is appropriate for a mini-quilt called "Pole Bending".

I didn't have enough of the horse fabric for the backing of the mini-quilt, but I did have some cowgirl boot fabric. Here's a sample.

This was a simple quilt to put together; the most time-consuming part was the hand appliqué.


* Just a side note here about cousins, if anyone is interested. Robbin is actually my first cousin, once removed. Her mother Kathy is my first cousin because Kathy's dad and my mom are brother and sister. If I had any children, they and Robbin would be second cousins. I know this because I have many, many cousins on that side of the family. But we all just refer to each other as "cousin," wouldn't you?

Congratulations, Robbin, on making the nationals! I dedicate this mini-quilt to you.

#26 Ribbon Weaving

#26: Ribbon Weaving
Almost finished: 7/1/12
Techniques: Weaving
Size: 16 x 15"

Description: OK, this is another late posting, and another quilt that wasn't quite done on time. But the only thing left was the binding and sleeve, so I don't feel too bad.

I've wanted to try a weaving technique, but didn't know how to best go about that with fabric. Should I use raw edged fabric, or make tubes of fabric so there would be no raw edges? But then I looked at my collection of ribbons that I've had forever, and decided to try it with those. I have a collection of ribbons in many widths - some are very wide as you can see. Some are satin ribbons, some are antique ribbons that my grandmother gave me, some are grosgrain ribbons, acetate, etc. I chose colors that I thought worked together and then just wove them in and out to create the design. Quilting was minimal by using a fancy machine stitch on a couple of the wider ribbons.

I worried that the ribbons wouldn't hold up to the stitching, fearing that they would snag or pucker, but that was not the case; the ribbons did very well when I used a ball point needle. I will say that the slipperiness of the ribbons was difficult to work with and the rows and columns are not even as a result, especially with the narrower ribbons. I would have to figure out a way to better anchor ribbons if I do another project like this one. Originally I was going to trying a different quilting method, possibly free motion or quilting some design, but when I was how slippery the ribbons were, I knew that wouldn't work.

Binding was done with ribbon too, but I didn't get a picture of that. I'll remedy that soon, as I get back on track.

On another note... this is #26 for the year! I'm half way through my year of mini-quilts! Where does the time go? I originally had thought I would run out of ideas for mini-quilts, and sometimes I did run low on inspiration, but always managed to rally! I still have a lot of fun doing this, so stay tuned!

#23 Origami

#23: Origami
Finished: 6/10/12
Techniques: Folded fabric, machine stitches, pieced binding
Size: 13 x 14"

Description: I was inspired to create this mini-quilt by my friend Sarah Withee and her origami projects. I had seen folded fabric and origami quilting books before and so now was the time to try it. I used Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat for instructions, but I found it rather difficult to do the origami itself. It took time to figure out the instructions, reading it several times and trying to gain insight from the photographs. Once I did though, it went much easier and faster.

I used batiks and mottled fabrics that read as solids for the origami portions, as well as the pieced binding. I used various machine stitches to add a bit more color to the black background. A few buttons were added for flair.

Here are some close-ups of the individual origami features, except for the orange one. For some reason, neither my phone nor camera did well in capturing the orange. It was too bright or something. I tried different settings to no avail. Oh well.