Tiny But Mighty

May 10, 20176 Comments

This tiny quilt (6 inches x 6 inches) was a kit I purchased at a shop hop somewhere in my quilting travels. Who could possibly resist making such a cute flower?

DSCN7714

Although tiny, this quilt is mighty. It incorporated machine piecing, hand applique, machine applique, hand quilting, machine quilting and embroidery. PLUS I got to practice tacking down the binding with my sewing machine.

I’m always looking for ways to use scraps. A set of four would make a nice gift for “someone” (perhaps the author) to use as coasters…for a cold beverage, on the porch, on a hot summer day, overlooking my garden, sharing a laugh with family and friends, petting my dogs…oh, sorry I was daydreaming there! I’ve just talked myself into making more tiny quilts, how hard was that?

Do you have any tiny quilt adventures?

One last Easter Parade

April 17, 20172 Comments

I have seen so many wonderful family pictures and fun spring-time rituals from my blogging tribe this week. Your happiness has inspired me to share my own.

My roommate’s daughter and son-in-law arrived from South Carolina by way of Connecticut and brought the youngest grandson for his first trip to NY this past weekend. What fun to have a baby in the house once more! My mother even jumped into the party and she volunteered to babysit so that the four of us could enjoy an evening out. With a face like this, how could she resist?

Baby Jackson is adorbs!

Good Friday is our traditional day to spend at the Broadway Market in Buffalo, NY, so we packed up our guests and brought them along to share in the excitement. The kids loved it and Jackson seemed to be energized by the crowds. We snagged some painted eggs to add to our collection, and we made sure that Jackson’s mom and dad started theirs!

Hand-painted eggs are an Easter tradition. Our collection is getting quite large!

Chocolate enrobed Peeps are another Easter tradition from the Market! Some of these may or may not have also been added to our “collection”.

Finally, the big bunny came and we loaded up on cute pics of Jackson.

Jackson spent hours on this quilt, exploring the patterns. He’s a quilt lover in the making!

On the quilting front, Cindy did a wonderful job of machine quilting my violet mini. She even sent it back to me express mail. She is the best.

I’ll pack these little bunnies away and then finish the binding for the big (mini) reveal on Thursday.

Bye-bye bunnies! Until next year.

Snowflake Mini Quilt Pattern

January 9, 2017January 10, 201713 Comments

Cindy here! It’s January and very snowy in Ohio. I decided to design a Snowflake Mini Quilt just for fun. What do you think?

snowflake1_withbrand

I used two metallic prints from Hoffman Fabrics Sparkle and Fade Line. These fabrics have shimmery metallic details and reminded me of how fresh snow glistens on a sunny day.

snowflake2_withbrand

I used two different shades of gray paint to stencil the word “SNOW”. Then I machine quilted around each letter.

When I added the circles to the block, I used a few dots of fabric glue to tack them down, but fusible web or hand applique would work too! The circles were a challenge to quilt because I had to keep lifting my presser foot and rotating every few stitches.

I am still practicing machine quilting with my walking foot and straight lines. I decided to use Lori Kennedy’s advice about alternating areas of dense stitching with areas of minimal stitching. I like the contrast — especially for smaller projects like this.

snowflake1_withbrand

Like the pattern? Give it a try and send us a picture!

Be sure to FOLLOW us so you can be the first to download our free patterns as they become available!

You can download the FREE Snowflake Pattern from the link below:

snowflake-mini-quilt-pattern

Mushing Meets Quilting II

October 24, 20166 Comments

In my September 19th post, I mentioned the “Left Behind” quilt pattern I bought while traveling in Alaska. This is a mini quilt by Melinda Dale, an Alaskan designer. Last week I decided to get started on this quilt project because I wanted to try fusible applique, a new technique for me. Melinda’s pattern was easy to follow and it started with two different light fabrics. One is Kona “Snow” and the other is a sparkly print I had on hand from my quilting travels.

I fused the snow onto the background and then did some machine quilting with my walking foot. I had fun and think I’m brave because I made wavy lines!

dscn7036

Next came the fun part! I got to make the Alaskan Husky dog with the teeniest, tiniest pieces! She turned out pretty cute and so I fused her to the snow!

dscn7038

I sewed around my little musher dog, changing threads several times so the thread colors matched. Then I fused the trees and added some texture to their trunks. I used Sulky thread for outlining and texture. I liked sewing with this thread and was pleased with the results.

dscn7041

As I was getting closer to completion, I added twigs to the trees and the snow. I drew the twigs randomly with a pencil and then sewed over the pencil lines with black Sulky thread. Nice! I made the leash with some decorative stitches on my machine.

dscn7050

To finish this fun project, I made a very skinny flange border that was 3/4 inches of gold fabric folded in half. Next I added the black binding and that’s it! Project complete!