Amish Mini Love - Island Batik Ambassador - Project #2

Island Batik Ambassadors had two assignments our first month (Island Batik provided the fabrics for this mini quilt).  Minis area so much fun - they are fast.   You can hang them or use them on a table as an accent.  Having just downsized to an apartment, I have a little more wall space!  So some of my minis are hanging on a closet door and some hanging on sides of my storage unit.   The requirements were fairly simple.  Less than 24" on a side, use any fabric except our surprise fabric, and any design and post any day.

Today’s mini is an adaptation of an Amish Hex sign.  I grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania where there are many Amish and Mennonite communities.  I loved seeing the hex signs, which are traditionally a sign of welcome and many had hearts on them.  I haven't always loved the colors, so I thought why not do it my own way.  Hearts - mini love - batiks - my home town melded into this little quilt.

I did a little work in EQ8 to see what I could do.  Two problems arose - time and not enough of the background to make larger pieces.  What to do….  AH - make a drunkards path to get the circle - which could use the fabric I choose.  Furthermore, I could solve problem two by  hand-piece while waiting for furniture fabricators to finish up a job.  Brilliant!  

Hand pieceing while waiting

The rest was easy.  I did do machine appliqué as my quilting - again a time saver for this project. 

A mini tutorial:

1.  Make a 4 Drunkard's Path Blocks (size was 6 1/2" unfinished)
2.  Sew blocks together to make a circle or use this method if you have more fabric
3.  Iron fusible web - per instructions - to fabric for points, hearts, and petals
4.  Cut out shapes
5. Iron shapes to background (for a limited time you can download the shapes here)

6.  Sandwich quilt (quilting will be done as you finish the edges)
7.  Use your choice of finishing for raw edge applique

8.  Bind and label

Up next for Island Batik projects:  A new technique for me and a rep sample of our secret fabric. 

Other quilting:

• Quilt and bind Fancy Forrest by end of February
• Bind Squiggles during week of March 5
• Plan March One Monthly Goal project 
• Design a few more quilts

Linking up with:  Let's Bee Social
                             Sew can She Show Off Saturday

Happy quilting. 

Spring Fling Hangover - Sew Much Sewing!

Last weekend some Rising Star Quilters descended upon the Lake Winnipesaukee Region for 3 nights and 4 days of quilting fun.  We brought our projects, our machines, our ideas, and a great sense of fun.  I brought 3 projects - a toile quilt, a baby quilt (Fancy Forrest) and an alphabet panel/baby quilt.  There were others, but I didn't think I'd really get to them.  An added bonus to the wonderful friends is that Keepsake Quilting is just down the road and always a treat to visit.

I finished the top for my toile quilt and picked out a backing and binding.  I collected these fabrics in 2004 (I can tell by the date on the selvage) for a challenge sponsored by the Allentown Art Museum, who had also had some of these fabrics printed.   I never did it, and to further complicate matters, I bought a very limited amount (mostly half yards), probably because the challenge was for a smallsize quilt.  That made it difficult to do everything I wanted, but in the end I am pretty happy.  In this photo it is on the design wall and nearly done.  It took about a half day of sewing and half day of cutting the week before.  I designed the pattern on EQ7 and even scanned in my fabric.  I was really proud of all of that.  A few caveats I discovered - best to recheck the math - EQ 7 didn't count pieces or yardage quite right.  Not sure if it was user error or not, but I am thinking of developing a spreadsheet for this to double check (or using another application).

 

The other quilt has all the blocks done.   It is the Fancy Forrest pattern by Elizabeth Harman.  I so love it.   It is for friends who are having a baby in June, and it will briefly live at Cambridge Quilt, once completed.   The key to this quilt is organization and paying attention to the directionality of the pieces.   Patience too helps.

I love the way it turned out and have a little work to do maybe with organizing the location of the blocks, but the top should be ready to quilt next week.  Hip Hip Hooray.  I also was able to pick a binding a back for this quilt.  

Two more pictures, the lake and the sky....a beautiful part of the world.

Fun, fun, fun!

In 2 weeks our annual spring fling quilting weekend occurs.  We go near Keepsake Quilting in NH and I can't wait.

I am beginning to line up my projects - ones not on the UFO list - but ones I'd like to begin or quick quilts for the weekend.  Sometimes I use the weekend to design or work out what I am doing, but  I did much of that on EQ7 and I can do a little more and I'll have a pattern made, complete with printouts of its finished look.  Its really great to do something like this for me.

1. I learned how to scan in fabric for EQ7
2. I learned how to make multiple copies of a quilt and change an few things on each one
3.  I printed out some basic info on the cutting that will help me figure out the next steps in the design process.  
4. I will have a plan and can get right down to it when we arrive in NH

The other great thing about this is that it is good preparation for my desire to make some patterns.  I look forward to a little time each week with EQ7 and to be in better shape to write patterns by the end of the May.