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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Festival of Scrappiness Quilt Entry- A little happy

Hi! I'm entering this mini quilt into the Festival of Scrappiness over at Stitched in Colour.


Mini Quilt - A little happy - 13.5" x 14"


As I haven't yet done my catch up post(oops and it is almost April! Oh the shame...) here is a quick rundown.  Last year I began making a quilt out of yellow and orange triangles all cut from scraps I inherited from my Mum.  This year while planning Project Half-Done(more on that later) I revisited the quilt, which is called "Happy Days", and decided I needed to make it a couple of rows longer. While cutting out the triangles for that I had some little scraps left over and decided to cut even tinier triangles and make a mini quilt for my ongoing Quall of Fame(a wall covered in mini quilts - miniatures of large ones I've made and others) because its a small version of "Happy Days" I've called it - "A little happy", and because its so small I only used a lowercase h. I didn't think it could handle a capital :)

Now entering an unfinished top is OK by the rules but as I've already started the quilting it feels a bit like I'm showing it to you naked. It is 13.5" x 14" and the triangles are just over 1 ¼" high. You can see my not very good quilting a bit better in the pictures below. I'm hoping to make the stars "pop" a bit, then I'm planning to bind it similar to this quilt here.



Mini Quilt - A little happy - Back
Mini Quilt - A little Happy -  Close-Up

















 






I was hoping to finish the large quilt too but I've run out of time so I'll tell a funny(eventually) story instead.  When trying to decide on how to quilt the mini I tried putting some clear plastic over the top and drawing on possible designs. It was all going well until, yep, some ninny drew on the fabric. And no, whiteboard markers do not wash out nor do they come out with Metho or anything else I tried.  The funny thing is that when I replaced the triangle it took me less than 10 minutes.  About 5 times less than I spent trying to get it out in the first place... der.

That means now I've learnt 3 things:

1. Don't trim blocks whilst wearing a scarf with tassels.  Unless of course the tassels are much too long and you need them shorter.

2. Headphones don't like being trimmed either.

3. Don't draw on fabric with a whiteboard marker.

I'm a bit over yellow and orange after the DSQ and these so now instead of finishing quilting this like I planned, I'm going over to check out more of the fabulous quilts already linked up.  Go and have a look too :)























Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Modern Mini Quilt Contest - Plan C!

Hi! Remember me?? Well I'm back to share what I've been up to.  Complete with poor photos and excessive punctuation! You lucky things :)

I  will do a catch up post soon but for now, before I run out of time, I'm entering the Modern Mini Quilt Contest over at Ellison Lane Quilts. By the skin of my teeth I might add, as the linky closes in less than an hour! Eeek! I had grand plans of a super-gorgeous-awe-inspiring quilt I would make using a block that I've redesigned but after much dithering, frustration and indecision I decided to take a step back and let it go.  It just wasn't working, so that meant it was time for a new plan! I had a new idea that I was really happy with! Unfortunately by the time I had the good idea, I did not have enough time to make it :(

On to Plan C! I decided to enter my Mini DSQ.  Plan C Finishes at 15½ " x 20".



Modern Mini Quilt Contest Entry - Plan C,  15½" x  20".


Last year I joined in with the Dead Simple Quilt Along over at Lily's Quilts.  You can read more about it here and here.  While a bit late to the party as I was trying to finish this, I did put the top together in January(not pics yet sorry!). Then because I've decided to make a "Mini Quall of Fame" (more on that later!) and because I didn't have a big enough area to lay out the big quilt, I decided to make a little one to see how the colours played together and to try out a quilting idea.



Modern Mini Quilt - Quilting texture
Once I put the top together and after quilting I thought it was a bit plain and just needed a little something extra. So I decided to add some little pops of colour in the binding.

Modern Mini quilt - Binding Detail

I love this effect and will be doing it on the big DSQ too. It gives a plain back a nice pop.



Modern Mini Quilt - Plan C - back.


Modern Mini Quilt contest Plan C - Back binding

The big DSQ is still waiting patiently for its turn....

DSQ - Dead Simple Quilt



There are lots of fantastic Mini quilts already linked up, go and have a look.

Good Luck everyone!