Hi everyone, I hope you are all staying warm while we are experiencing our January freeze. "Out like a Lion" "In like a Lamb", maybe there is hope for February?

I have been suffering today with a cold and decided to stay home and get my January mini quilt done-better late than never!  
The picture of it is below and it is a landscape quilt, kinda artsy and showing January, cold and frosty as it is right now.

The process of making this quilt was really very simple and completely by machine.  I started with a simple line drawing shown below:

Fabric was then cut out based on the paper templates:

The fabric parts were all sewn together with a tiny zig zag and matching thread:

My quilt is now ready to be sandwiched with 2 layers of batting, to show texture on the quilt:

My feed dogs are lowered and a free motion foot is put on my machine and trees are free motion stitched:

More trees and snowflakes in the sky are added along with swirling winds and texture lines in the snow:

Stay warm and stay safe on those roads and challenge yourself to make a winter landscape!❤️

 Better late than never!  Sorry this little quilt is not seasonally appropriate, I did make a Halloween one last year, see that post here

May you all have a safe and Happy Halloween 🎃

This months mini is going much smaller with blocks (3 geese) at 1" x 1.5" finished.  
I am in love with flying geese lately and thought it appropriate with the fact that some birds will fly south soon. Oh no, not what we want to hear! 

​ This finished quilt measures only about 7" wide x 8.25" complete with sashing, borders and binding. It had to be paper pieced to be accurate.  Fun to do but a serious challenge, especially to get the sashing, borders and binding as even as possible.

 See the size of the block below, tiny in my hand.

Helpful tools for this project?

The 6" add a quarter ruler

&

Bobbin fill fine thread for embroidery, I found it useful for tiny piecing as it creates less bulk.

I think I got mini flying geese out of my system,  at least for now LOL

Challenge yourself to a mini quilt this month!

Happy Wednesday and Happy September❤️

For our August Monthly Mini Quilt, it's summer so I was thinking a summer quilt.  Not to mention the fact that it was 30+c at the time I was making this quilt and we were having a heat wave ! I  had the air conditioning blasting while working in my studio.  

The blocks in the above quilt number 20 in total, the quilt measures  approximately 9" wide x 10" tall and each block measures a mere 1.75" wide x 2" tall. They are tiny!

What I used to make the flying geese roofs, easy and accurate? Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day Flying Geese Ruler

I designed this quilt in EQ8 because with each block being so small, I did not want to rely on my own math for accuracy.  The key to working with minis is accurate cutting and accurate sewing.

The most fantastic tools for this  Mini Summer Beach Huts quilt project?

                                        &

                               = Success!

I hope you have a great wednesday! ❤️

Happy  first wednesday of the month and wow where did June go?  My month of June went to long arm quilting, family visits,  teaching and of course domestic engineering!

It is time for a monthly mini quilt and today I will talk about 2 of my recent minis.  These minis are different but also similar.  I am featuring 2 mini quilts this month because of their similarities, they are free motion outline quilted and coloured but with 2 different types of colouring tools. The first of the two quilts is a sun flower coloured with my "Crayon Appliqué" technique.  Check out this technique here .  The second of the two quilts was an experiment to wrap my mind around and practise what I call "zen doodle quilting" .   I am not sure if it called something else but it was "Zen" to draw it, outline it and colour it, so hence the name.    

​Have I got your curiosity?  

Check out the pictures below:

Supplies Used for the Sunflower Mini Quilt:
Connecting Threads Essential Thread in Black (outlining of sunflower) FYI- on sale now!
Connecting Threads Essential Thread in White (background stippling) FYI- on sale now!
Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Batting FYI 30% off sale now!
Sunflower design -a free stock design 
Sunflower fabric for binding and backing was from my stash :)
I also used the crayons below and heat set them with an iron  see the technique in this blog  here

Supplies Used for the Mason Jar Vase Mini Quilt:

Black Thread from WonderFil 12 wt 

Mason Jar Vase- free stock design
Fabric Markers- see below:

When you colour with the fabric markers, please follow the package instructions for use and heat setting

These projects were quick to do and a fun way to explore colour marking options.
The sky is the limit with what you can do if you can free motion outline a design!  
​Special thanks to my friend Marg for helping me wrap my mind around this technique and spending a day exploring it with me!

​Stay tuned to see more about "Zen Doodling" in the near future on this blog, a sneak peak photo of some upcoming work on zen doodling is below:

Happy Wednesday, Stay Cool ❤️

Canning on the Shelf was completed last month actually and is a miniature version of 3 large (double sized) canning jar quilts that my sister and I worked on about 3 years ago.  I have not even made a dent in my food based fabric collection LOL!  This quilt was one of my UFO's but now it's done Yay!
​ Check out the blocks below aren't they adorable? 

​Check out some great inspiration at Craftsy.com on miniatures.

   
Take a class ...... Fabric Play: Sewing Mojo Minis   or check out a fantastic blog post:  ​Mini Quilts 10 Fresh Ideas to Inspire



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Stay tuned in and check out this series in the first wednesday of each month, I will let you know when patterns are posted.
Do you have a mini quilt you would love to share with us and inspire others?  Please use the contact tab above and I will be happy to share your work on this blog. Why not challenge yourself to a mini quilt and share your work with us?

Happy Wednesday! ☀️