Mini-Quilt Monday x3

Here I am, continuing to play catch up on the mini quilts. God only knows what I have left - being sick left my memory completely junked! But now that the double ear infection, the almost sinus infection, the throat issues and the allergic reaction to Zyrtec D out of my system...I'm feeling much better now!

But...for your viewing pleasure are the 3 latest:

Title: "Stitch and Bitch" (mini-quilts week 15)

Materials and Techniques: cotton fabrics completely handstiched...a technique that I despise! I have nothing but awe and respect for those quilters who sit there handstitching full sized quilts...I think they're absolutely insane...but it takes a tough constitution to work on something like that!

From Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Apr. 2007 issue

Title: "Country Kitsch" (mini-quilts week 16)

Materials and Techniques: cotton fabrics in a nine patch and solid formation. I'll be honest, I really don't like country florals...I'm not sure what it is about them that makes me cringe, but they do. I tried them, because they were in my scrap bucket, but I still find them hideous!

Title: "Flutterby" (mini-quilts week 17)

Materials and Techniques: pieced solid cotton fabric with a floral print (not country floral mind you!), embroidered with flowers and butterflies, and one little bee. I love to embroider! I don't often do it, but I love the way it always comes out. Even when it's bad, it looks good...well, sometimes.

As soon as we get a not-so-dreary day, I'll have to take pictures of the garden...it's growing by leaps and bounds! AND...my brother took down that horrible fence in the back yard! Being sick, I lost 2 weeks of working on his bedroom, so the poor guy is sleeping on the couch. I feel bad, I wanted to have the last of the sheetrock up, but it just hasn't happened. Soon, hopefully.

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilt Week 14

Title: "Fold & Tuck"

Materials and Techniques: Dupioni Silk, Cotton, Batiks and Beads done in a pleat (unfortunately I haven't found a good tutorial for this and I didn't photograph my own foray into the world of pleats...but I can say that it's fairly easy!)

From Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Sept. 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilt Week 13

Title: "Harvest"

Materials and Techniques: 4 Patch on Point (for a not quite but very similar how to, click here)

From American Patchwork & Quilting, June 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilt Week 12

Title: "Diamond in the Rough"

Materials and Techniques: stitch & flip (this is a super easy technique, it's just squares! Go here to learn how)

From Quiltmaker, Oct. 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 11

Title: "Yertle"

Materials and Techniques: papercut applique, fabric paint and fusible web.

found in Quilter's Newsletter, May 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 10

Welcome to another week of Mondays!

Yes, I'm still catching up on my mini quilts, but I'm only behind by two (whoo-hoo!!!)

As I've been playing catch up, I realized that they really aren't "mini" quilts so much as just quilt "blocks". They will be going into a larger quilted wallhanging...but technically, I guess they could stand alone as an individual quilt in small form...and since I've been calling them mini quilts all along, that's how they will stay.

Title: "Triangular Garden"

Materials and Techniques: made using fabric strips cut into triangles and stitched into a square.

"Roses for Mom" pattern from McCall's Quick Quilts, May 2007 issue

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You may notice that I did some fairly traditional blocks this time around. That's because, well, I never really like traditional quilting - I liked looking at traditional quilts, but actually doing them...no thanks, I'd rather do funky arty quilts. But something has changed. I'm not sure when it changed, but now when I look at quilts, I've begun to really notice the blocks themselves...the technique, how they are pieced, the use of color coordination and contrast, the use of thread as an embellishment rather than just a way to keep things together.

I started going through my quilt magazines (a good quilter NEVER tosses her mags, since they're such a handy reference). I marked the techniques that I wanted to try and this week you'll see the results. I was surprised at how easy many of these were and how gratifying it was to look at the final product and be able to say, "Wow, I made that and it actually looks right!"

I'm going to stick with trying out the traditional blocks for a while; I'll throw in an arty mini here and there, as the mood strikes, but for now, the traditional blocks are really striking a cord.

Enjoy another week of mondays! :^)

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 9

Title: "L7" (slang: a derivative term for square; also a reference to the band, who had that killer song I love)
Materials and Techniques: blocks, blocks and blocks on blocks and satin stitch (can you tell it's my favorite to use? It just makes everything look so clean!)
An alternate title for this was, "Would you could you in a block?" I'll have to think of another way to pay homage to Dr. Suess.

Well, that does it for a week of Mondays. I'm still about 5 mini-quilts behind (as of this coming weekend). If I can bust them out on Saturday or Sunday, you may see another week of Mondays next week...don't count on it though! :^)

Happy Monday...er...Friday all!

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 8

Title: "Don't You Know I'm Loco?" (hats off to Cypress Hill for the name) Materials and Technique: made with leftover scraps from Squeaky Squeaky toys and varigated threads in a crazy quilt pattern (can you believe that I've never tried to do crazy quilting before?)

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 7

Title: "Bubble Flowers" (yeah, I know - very unoriginal, but I couldn't think of anything better!)
Materials and Techniques: made using satin stitch, varigated thread, rag edges and buttons
My inspiration for this one came from this funkitude quilt, and looking at it again makes me wish that I had come up with a better name!

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 6

Title: "Zen Tree Meditation"
Materials and Techniques: made from fusible web and free motion quilting. It was inspired by a book I bought on healing mandalas - the mandala was "Two Trees, One Root" (granted this is only one tree)

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 5

Welcome to a week of Mondays...mini-quilt Mondays, that is!

I'm playing catch up with my mini-quilts, so every day I will show off the latest addition (the photos weren't taken on the best of days, so bare with me)

Title: "Hey Butt(on)head!" Materials and Techniques: made from yo-yos and buttons, machine and hand stitching (I forgot how much I love the look of buttons on things).

New Toy!!

I have a new toy! Mum and I hit a REALLY good sale the other day and with our 50% off coupons, we each bought a SideWinder (for only $17.50)!! The SideWinder is a one button, portable bobbin winder that runs on batteries and fills bobbins without having to un-thread your sewing machine (which drives me nuts!). I haven't tried it out yet (which is killin' me!). I just haven't had time; I'm still working crazy hours - as a matter of fact, I'm still at work...14 hours straight and counting (:^P) and the concensus is that we'll be in late again tomorrow.

This weekend...this lovely 3 day weekend (Patriot's Day observed only in Maine and Massachusetts)...will be a rakin' the lawn, painting the coffee table funky, finishing the last 4 mini quilts (managed to get 5 done during my mad dash mini quilt catch up session) kind of weekend. I'm so looking forward to it!

And I've been inspired. I had a meeting in Brunswick on Tuesday and stopped into a furniture store called Seaside Mercantile (no website, unfortunately) because their window display featured an aqua colored couch with a purple sofa table behind it and an aqua and cobalt striped hutch off to the side. It was fabulous! It inspired my thoughts concerning my living room. I love painting rooms in great colors (remember my hall), but I've never been able to figure out just what to do with the living room (look here beyond the crazy cats to see the wallpaper and woodwork and here is the carpet and my hand me down couch). My idea is to rip off the wallpaper, paint the walls an eggshell color, slipcover the furniture in different colors, make new and funky fabric curtains, paint the coffee table, side tables and entertainment center in funkatude colors and patterns and paint my own canvases to go on the walls. I've never been a fan of white walls, but I think I can get behind this! Now it's just DOING it (there are still many projects that need finishing first).

Oh, we're done for the night and it's only 10:30 - Whoo hoo! I'm goin' to bed! Night!

(oh, if any of this is disjointed, blame 14 1/2 hours of work, sleepy eyes/brain and the fact that I'm going to post this without anal retentively rereading and editing it!)

Mini-Quilt Monday

I call this "Patience is a Virtue." I know I've mentioned this before here, but my patience level is seriously lacking. If something looks terribly complicated or requires me to read directions, I tend to avoid it. Not out of fear, but out of a short attention span and a mood that swings to the easily frustrated. It is for these reasons that I have avoided making triangles in my quilts...oh, and because you have to iron every. freakin'. seam! But back a few months ago, Mum gave me a Triangulations CD for quilters. It teachs you the easy way to make half and quarter square triangles. You want to talk about easy peasy? WOW! Yes I did have to iron every single flippin' seam, but you know...it was worth it! This little block came out so flat. It's beautiful!

Yes, I know that not all of my triangles and diamonds show perfectly, but hey, it's the first time I've ever done it...and I really don't recommend making super teeny tiny 1" square triangles your first time out - they were a bitch to stitch (and even more of a bitch to iron, unless you have a small iron meant primarily for quilting).
"Patience is a Virtue" was born out slowing down, reading directions and ironing every seam, with my blood and spit going into every corner of this little block, literally - I kinda cut the knuckle of my thumb with the rotary cutter (don't ask, I'm a whiz a cutting myself with scissors and cutters or stabbing myself with needles and pins). It bled like crazy, to the point where I had to stop what I was doing and get a band-aid!

Anyhoo, happy Monday!

Mini-Quilt Monday....er...Tuesday

So I'm a day late...no surprise there. Since I missed last week, I made up for it this week. And without further ado, here's the latest in the mini-quilt project:

"Color Play"

Made with batik swatches and exploring light, medium and dark in fabric color

"What's Black & White and Red All Over?"

(obviously a play on the old newspaper joke). Again, batiks. I proved to myself that I can make a tiny log cabin block from 2"x3" swatches.

Mini-Quilt Monday

Here it is - the first Mini-Quilt Monday! Whoo-hoo! And as promised, the first of 52 mini quilts:

I'm calling this first one "Blanket of Stars" (which I neglected to write on the back of it), inspired by a quilt idea I had 3 years ago while listening to the Counting Crows song, Mrs. Potter's Lullabye. The whole song has great imagery but when I heard "When I see you a blanket of stars covers me in my bed", all I could picture was this deep blue quilt covered in various sized stars...so I made it in mini with one size star. This has taught me that I need to practice my free-motion to get my thread lines a little better looking and less all over the place. It also make me realize that I enjoy beadwork!

Now, Belém asked a very good question: "Isn't 4" going to be too small?" I thought so too at first, but in the end, if my calculations are correct (and god knows they probably aren't - I'm very adept at screwing up my measurements!) and if I stitched all these mini quilts into one, the finished quilt would be 133" square or roughly 11' square, give or take (26 four inch blocks across and down with a 1" sashing between each block and a 2" border - does 133" sound right?). 52 blocks, plus the binding, the sashing and the backing...all using scraps. It might not use up all of my scraps, but I think it will use a fair amount.

I kind of like the thought that I don't have to come up with something big - I can whip up a 4" block in no time with these mini-practices and they're very inspiring! I came up with 2 new ideas for quilted wall hangings based on the one I did yesterday. Plus it makes me think small, when normally I think a little too big with quilts.

Alright, lunch break is over - now I have to get back to work.