Modern Mini Quilt Challenge

Jennifer of Ellison Lane is hosting the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge.  Today is the day to link up and submit only one entry.  In the past 6 months I've made nothing but minis and I love all of them.  It was so hard to decide which one to submit (like choosing a favorite child).  After a little help from my Instagram friends I've decided to go with the Circle Celebration pillow I made for the X-Factor Pillow swap.  This little pillow had a rough start (you can read about the process here) but in the end I'm pleased with the result.  Its funny that every single one of my favorite works live somewhere else now.  All of them were made for swaps.  This one traveled across the ocean and now lives with Tiina in the U.K. 

This foundation pieced pillow finishes at 15 inches square and is straight line quilted.  The free block pattern can be found at Quilting On the Square along with lots more blocks.  There are already lots of gorgeous minis linked up at Ellison Lane.  I highly recommend visiting and checking out all the lovely eye candy.

 

 

As always, thank you so very much for reading!

 

Melissa

 





PTS 10

 

I have been wanting to participate in the Pillow Talk Swap on Flickr for a while now.  I've seen so many beautiful pillows made for each round, I had to get in on the action.  My chance finally arrived when I saw that sign ups were open for round 10.  Imagine my excitement when I saw that my partner was one of my favorite bloggers.  I already knew that she was a huge Anna Maria Horner fan, and in her mosaic I saw triangles, so that's the direction I decided to go in.  There is something about sewing triangles that I just love. 

I only had a few AMH prints in my stash so I ordered a charm pack of Field Study and Lou Lou Thi to work with.  I love the fact that AMH's charms are 6 inches instead of the usual 5.  I cut 60 triangles but ended up using only 25 of them.  Then I began playing with the layout.

 

 

This was ok, but ok wasn't gonna cut it.  It needed something more.

Enter some texty lovliness.  It was so fun showing teasers to the group throughout the process and getting such positive feedback.

 

Once the piecing was done I had to figure out how to quilt it.  I love free motion quilting but I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone so I decided I would attempt hand quilting for the first time.  I used six different colors of Perle cotton 8wt.  I also did not use any kind of quilting hoop or frame.

I must admit, I did pick out my stitches more than once due to uneven stitches.  Once I got in the groove though it went nice and smooth.  I did a simple petal motif in the center.

For the low volume background it took me forever to decide what to do with that area.  Finally I settled on simple straight line quilting that echoed the hexagon.  I did the colors by hand and then machine stitched the white with the perle thread.  I never knew you could do that but thanks to Little Miss Shabby, I discovered a new technique I will definitely be using again.

I really enjoyed making this pillow especially knowing who I was making it for.  I think it was pretty obvious that it was for her.  I wanted it to be special and I hope I achieved that.  Judging from her comments on Flickr I think she's going to be a happy lady.  I also made her a linen feather pouch and a wall hoop pocket but I forgot to take a pic of the hoop. :(

I cannot wait to see which pillow I receive!  There are so many beauties in the group I know I will love any one I get.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

 

 

Circle Celebration Pillow

This little pillow was made for my second time participating in the X-Factor Pillow swap.  The theme was circles.  I wanted to do something different but wasn't sure in what direction I wanted to go until I saw this photo full of amazing paper pieced blocks made by Wombat Quilts.  Those blocks are seriously stunning!  Something about the Celebration block stood out to me and so I decided to go with that one.  I've foundation pieced before and I enjoy the process but man oh man did this block kick my butt!  I screwed it up so many times.  This was almost the pillow that didn't happen.
Here is the 1st block I made.

I was so excited because I used a color wheel to choose my colors.  I wanted to get away from my rainbow comfort zone.  When I was done I just didn't love it so I decided to go back to a rainbow design. 

A word of advice, although it may be relaxing, don't drink and paper piece.  I had to unpick seams more than a few times.  Even when I hadn't been drinking I still messed up despite being super careful.  Can you spot the mistake?

 

Frustrating for sure.  I almost gave up at the thought of having to cut more fabric to redo the segments, and although my instagram friends said it wasn't that noticeable I couldn't send it out in the world knowing it was off.  So I cut the pieces again.  For the quilting I decided to go with straight lines to highlight the design of the block.

And then came the binding issue.  I love piping on a pillow and so I tried it on this one, with this result.

Terrible, hated it, bring on the seam ripper once again!  In the end it was better without anything.

For the back I used Roses in Celebration from the Valentina collection.  I also used Svetlana's awesome tutorial for a hidden zipper closure.

For all it's trouble, in the end I'm glad I stuck it out and finished this little pillow. 
It finishes at 15 inches square.  I used Kona Ash for the background.  The free block pattern can be found at Quilting On the Square along with lots more blocks.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

Pickledish Mini

I am so excited to finally share with you the mini I made for a swap with Jessie of Inside The Paper Box.  Advance warning:  there are A LOT of pics in this post. 

I've been wanting to participate in some swaps on Flickr, but they all require prior swap experience and I had none.  I posted a message on instagram and Jessie so kindly volunteered to do a private swap with me to help build up my swappy street cred.  We posted inspiration collages and went from there.  I was so happy to see that one of her picks was Aneela's Pickledish block.  I've had this block bookmarked for a long time but never a reason or the time to actually make it.  And so here was my chance!  Jessie's only direction was that she liked scrappy. 

 

I have a very modest stash so everything I pulled was a favorite.

The first few arcs were a bit tricky but then I got the hang of it.

I included all of my favorite text prints for the cornerstones.

Planning the layout.

Pinning is crucial with these, but sewing the curves was no problem at all.  I found it very relaxing.

Before I started any quilting, I sketched the block out and planned how I wanted each space to look.  My quilting was definitely inspired by Angela Walters.  I turned to both of her books and her Craftsy class for guidance.  I had planned to include swirls and circles in the background, but my skills aren't up to par yet.  I kept with the pebbles which was fun and not too difficult for my first time trying them.

The only lines I actually marked were for the center quilting.

At first I was having major tension issues and getting these weird knotty spots on the back.  Then I posted a pic on instagram asking for tips.  Within minutes I had some great suggestions and after a quick cleaning, needle change, and putting my feed dogs UP, it was smooth sailing!  I love instagram!

Machine stitched binding.

A view of the back.

I really had a great time making this mini.  I hope it is enjoyed in its new home.  Thanks to Jessie for the opportunity.  And thank you for reading!  :^)

Melissa

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Hospital Maternity Gown and a Pezzy baby quilt

 

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your year has gotten off to a great start.  I have been a busy bee lately. Lots of sewing has been done in January.  First off, my best friend is expecting a baby boy soon.  As requested I made her a hospital gown so she would look fabulous in those first moment photos.  I used a free pattern found at Lazy Girl Designs here.  Its a great pattern, very easy to follow, and makes a great gift.  Some changes I made were rounding out the neckline and using snaps at the shoulders.

Of course I had to make her a baby quilt.  I found this awesome tutorial at the Moda Bakeshop by Alyssa of Pile O' Fabric.  I had seen the quilt a while ago and loved it, and so this was the perfect opportunity to make one myself. 

I usually like to finish a quilt with hand stitched binding but I did not have the time to do it on this one.  Kelly's video (of Kelby Sews) on using invisible thread to finish the binding was super helpful.  At first I had some issues getting the thread on the bobbin, but after that was done it was smooth sailing.  Normally, I don't like the way my machine sewn binding looks, but this technique is one I will use again in the future.

The great thing about this quilt is the size, it will definitely be able to be used on a toddler bed instead of just as a baby quilt.  I'm so happy she liked my gifts.  I really enjoy making handmade gifts instead of just going to a store and buying something off a shelf.  She liked the quilt so much she requested a matching pillow which is in the works now. 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Melissa

Pin Cushion Caddy

The weekend started off rainy here, which was perfect for staying home all day in pajamas and sewing.  I was able to make myself a cute pincushion caddy!

 

The pattern is from Anna Maria Horner's book, Seams To Me:  24 New Reasons To Love Sewing.  It's one of her older books so I found it pretty cheap on ebay with free shipping.  After reading a few reviews on the pattern I was a bit worried about it beeing too complicated.  I could not have done it without the help of Melanie's tutorial at Texas Freckles.  All of the pictures and instructions were so helpful.  The pattern pieces were cut Friday night and by Saturday evening I had myself a caddy.

 

I only needed to cut one piece from the pattern.  The rest of the way I followed Melanie's instructions to get a custom fit tube and bottom.


Instagram progress





I wish I could see the bottom all of the time.  I should have made the inside bottom with this fabric.  Oh well, hindsight...

I way overstuffed it and forgot to use something to support the sides during stuffing.  I also got some puckers but don't mind too much.  Instead of polyfill maybe some rice or plastic beads would be a better filler to give it some weight.  Imperfections and all, I love it!  The project involved machine and hand sewing but nothing too bad.  It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.


Here is the progress on the robot quilt.  I am going to start sewing these together soon.