Patchwork Breeze: mini quilt

Showing posts with label mini quilt. Show all posts

3/15/2016

Island Batik Mini Madness Quilt

I am happy to be have been selected to be an Island Batik Ambassadors.

The first activity I am participating in is the Mini Madness Quilt Challenge. We were to make a mini quilt no larger than 24" x 24" using some of the Island Batik fabrics that arrived on our doorsteps a few weeks earlier.

Choosing the fabrics to use was difficult. I opened the French Roast charm pack and knew those were the fabrics! I needed only some of the squares -- more to use later!

Then, what to make?

A small table runner!

Here is SANDSTONES IN THE SEA,

the mini table runner I made from two blocks,

a folded border and border strip.

On Friday I will post the steps and measurements I used to accomplish this,

so come back for a visit.

In the meantime, visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see the minis they made.

Nan	www.purrfectspots.blogspot.com
Pamela	www.pamelaquilts.blogspot.com
Patricia	www.lemontreesnippets.wordpress.com
Anna	www.arkangelcreations.blogspot.com
Jessica	www.desertbloomquilting.com/blog/
Connie	www.conniekresin.com
Tina	http://quiltingaffection.blogspot.com/
Barbara	http://www.stonecottagequilts.com/blog/
Barb	www.bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com
Pam	www.forquiltssake.blogspot.com
Maria	http://www.mariamichaelsdesigns.com/blog/
Sally	www.sallysquiltingcorner.blogspot.com
Jeanette	http://inchwormfabrics.blogspot.com/
Connie	www.kauffmandesigns.blogspot.com
Joan	www.moosestashquilting.blogspot.com
Soile	http://toolontilkkupaja.blogspot.fi/
Bea	www.beaquilter.com
Christine	www.madeinscraps.blogspot.com
Maryellen	www.teachpany.blogspot.com
Adele	www.adelemogavero.com
Tracy	www.sewsupportive.com
Nancy	www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com Me!
Marlene	www.kissedquilts.blogspot.com
Linda	www.thepatchworkpearl.com
Vicki	http://knitbug2.blogspot.com/
Tammy	www.tamarinis.typepad.com
Carol	www.funthreads.blogspot.com
Suzy	www.websterquilt.blogspot.com/

3/06/2016

March Is A Month of Quilting

This month is ramping up to be a busy month of quilting for me.

March 19 is designated as World Wide Quilting Day.

I am not sure if I will be quilting with others or myself, but I will be quilting!

How many of you will be quilting that day?

I am working on a block swap for the Mid-Century Modern Bee.

We are making 4 inch mini churn dash blocks. I will be sewing 9 blocks.

Each one has to use red. I have 2 done.

As an Island Batiks Ambassador I will be sharing a mini project this month.

I finished the top and am waiting to learn when I will be posting.

I will be sharing directions to reproduce it.

March 23 is my day to post for the

Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop

11/01/2015

Reveal of Four In Art Mini Literature Quilt

My final quilt in this year's art quilt series with the theme Literature, as with my other 3 pieces, illustrates a children's book. The idea to use this book came to me in August while I was out with a friend, carrying our plastic pails as we walked the sandy soil of the local blueberry patch. (I wish now I had taken a few photos of the blueberry patch.) The photo below shows one small part of my 12" x 12" mini quilt.

In 2009, the book was ranked 13th of the "Top 100 Picture Books". The characters of Sal and her mother are modeled after McCloskey's daughter, Sally and his wife, Peggy, according the Wikipedia.

I remember, as an elementary school teacher, showing the 1967 film to my classes. (The film was ancient but enlarged the book illustrations, showing each page as the narrator read the story.) His voice sounded so kind and gentle. I can still hear the melody as he repeated the sound of the 3 blueberries Sal would drop in her pail before she ate them up. . . and then dropped 3 more into her pail, over and over again.

The word "onomatopoeia" is one I still like to say. It just sounds wonderful. It means the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (like sizzle, clunk, hiccup).

The story is one of mother and child (human and bear) gathering berries on Blueberry Hill for the winter. Sal's mother will can the berries in jars; mother bear and cub will eat them before hibernating. It is an adventure as well as a lesson in concepts such as the seasons and comparison and contrast, to name just two.

As both families head in opposite directions on Blueberry Hill, Sal and the bear cub wander off and loose track of mother. Hearing a sound, they begin following the wrong mother. Both mothers realize they are being followed by the wrong youngster and all are properly reunited. Sal does manage to drop one last berry in her bucket.

I folded 2-1/2" fabric squares diagonally, sewed them in the top corners of the piece. Added the binding front to back. The corners are now pockets that will hold a dowel for hanging on the wall in the Children's Library room at the local library.

An old photo of the Newaygo Carnegie Free Library which opened in 1915.

This year marks its Centennial.

Our town, and many others of various sizes, was a benefactor of the immense philanthropic efforts of Andrew Carnegie. "He believed passionately that wealth should not be squandered by the person who gathered it, but be reinvested into the community to aid the public good." This quote and the one below, come from an article on the subject in Michigan History Magazine.

"From 1883 until 1920 Carnegie underwrote the cost of hundreds of public libraries across the United States (and in some other countries). Grants were provided to small towns, large cities, and some of the earliest suburban areas. In total, the program endowed the construction of 1,688 buildings throughout the U.S., serving a total of 1,419 communities. Michigan--with 61 of these edifices--was a sizable beneficiary of Carnegie's generosity. Of these, 50 still stand and 26 still function as libraries. Their reach extends to all corners of the state, from Detroit in the southeast to Ironwood in the northwest."

It is amazing that he had such foresight.

And it is amazing that our small town has one of only 26 of these libraries still in use in Michigan as a library. It was over the span of 4 or 5 years that our library worked toward much needed renovations. With the efforts of the Friends of the Library and other citizens, funding was obtained for renovations and many citizens, community groups and businesses, and grants helped make it possible.

Although this year's theme is completed, I will continue to make more mini quilts for the library.

Visit the others involved in the Four-In-Art Challenge:

Betty at a Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com

Catherine at Knotted Cotton

Elizabeth at OPQuilt.com

Nancy at Patchwork Breeze

Simone at Quiltalicious

Susan at PatchworknPlay

I will be participating in the Christmas Is In My Heart Blog Hop.

It begins November 12, 2015 and my blog date is November 17.

Hope you are able to visit all the bloggers and see what they have

come up with to add heart to their Christmas quilting.

Click the logo to get all the details on dates and giveaways.

8/01/2015

Today is the day!

My Four-in-Art Challenge Reveal

I have belonged to this an online quilting group of 8 quilters for nearly 2 years.

I am very happy to have been chosen to join the group when they expanded in 2014.

It has pushed me to try new concepts and techniques, some successfully and others never made it into a blog post. I have communicated with some wonderful and creative people.

Each "new year" (which begins in February) we are given a theme. We are to create a small quilt (12" x 12" is what I have made) every 3 months to interpret that theme.

This year's theme has been literature.

I have chosen Children's literature and will be donating my mini quilts to the local library to display in the Children's Area.

My third quarter reveal is based on the1963 Newberry winning book by Madeleine L'Engle:

A Wrinkle In Time

This is a science fantasy book for young adult readers. It was written between 1959 and 1960. After a long struggle to get it published, a happy turn of events at a tea party led to Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishing it in 1963.

In my quilt piece, I wanted to reference three of the elements in the story.

The first is the tesseract, which was able to transport the characters on their quest to save Mr. Murphy.

In my search of the term, I found this from dictionary.com:

"A line has one dimension, a square has two, a cube has three, and a tesseract has four."

(Wait for Weight Jack McKenty)
There is a very good animation of this quotation HERE (at Wikipedia) under the section on Geometry.
I designed my tesseract with tulle in order that the viewer could see something of this 4-dimensional object on a 2-dimensional plane. The black background suggests space as well as reference to the first line in the book, "It was a dark and stormy night,"
In my investigations, a tesseract has 8 sides and 16 corners, so to me it is like two open boxes, with each of its corners connected. After designing this, I found reference that all of the edges of the tesseract are the same length; thus, mine is not true to definition.

Below is a close up of the zig-zag stitching on the tulle. In some sections, there are overlapping pieces of tulle. It was actually quite easy to sew and trim.

But I must say at times I was seeing an optical illusion!

The next thing I wanted to represent was the three Mrs. (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which) who happen to be supernatural beings who transport the three children through time and space in the tesseract, the action of which is similar to folding time and space like fabric. I used metallic gold thread to stitch their names as it was revealed that Mrs. Whatsit was a former star that exploded in order to fight the darkness. Their names are around the image of a clock face with a wrinkle in it to reference the title of the book.

And, lastly, the heroine of the story, Meg, discovers in their attempt to save her father (who is trapped on the dark planet) and later her need to save her brother, that it is LOVE that conquers and wins the day.

I wanted to represent love a little differently than simply placing four letters on my quilt.

I drew a heart on paper and drew each letter into a section to be made in a different color fabric. The letters were drawn in reverse on fusible.

I used a zig-zag stitch to hold them all down.

The backing I found while participating in the Row by Row and could not pass it up.

I knew it would be the right backing for this little quilt.

I quilted the layers with straight lines radiating from the corner to suggest movement in space.

Thank you for visiting. Comments are always welcome.

Visit the others in the Four-in-Art group to see what they have done for the third reveal of their Literature themes.

Betty at a Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com

Catherine at Knotted Cotton

Elizabeth at OPQuilt.com

Jennifer at Secondhand Dinosaur

Nancy at Patchwork Breeze

Rachel at The Life of Riley

Simone at Quiltalicious

Susan at PatchworknPlay

____________________________

And to let you know a bit of what is in store in September, I have designed a row for the

There are 20 talented EQ7 designers

and a boatload of sponsors.

To name a few

EQ7 - giving the software away to a lucky winner,

Fat Quarter Shop - a $25 gift certificate from each blog.

Aurifil - some beautiful thread packs

There will be batting, patterns, classes....

To see the whole list of sponsors and EQ7 designers,

you can stop by here.

I hope you plan on joining us.

5/01/2015

Four-in-Art Reveal of Literature Mini Quilt

I have been working on a number of things lately, most are not quilting projects. However, I do have my Four-in-Art project done and ready for this reveal today. The on-line group I belong to has an overall theme each year. This year it is Literature. Each of us chose how we wanted to represent the theme in a 12" square quilt. Every 3 months we reveal a new piece.

I am continuing with the theme of children's literature incorporating fonts in each piece. Dr. Seuss came to mind for this challenge. I remember reading his books to my own daughters and the students in my kindergarten classes. I chose the book One fish two fish red fish blue fish for my quilt piece. (Dr. Seuss did not use commas in this book title.) This series of quilts is going to be donated to the local library for the Children's Room.

I purchased my Scan N Cut machine in July, 2014, but had not used it many times. In January, 2015, a demo class was held at the store where I purchased it. I learned many things that the machine could cut....but most importantly, tips and tricks to confidently use it. So, armed with my fused fabric and a brayer (which helps get all the fabric adhered to the tacky mat), I easily cut the letters and numerals for my Four-in-Art Challenge quilt.

Here it is: Learning with Dr. Seuss.

I backed the fabric for the numbers and letters with fusible before I cut them. I remember watching Doreen Speckmann years ago make what she called Peaky and Spike blocks into fish. I wanted fish like hers and used the EZ Quilting templates from Wright Co. to cut the size fabric pieces I needed. Many manufacturers call these templates Tri-Recs.

I set the fish blocks into a skewed frame of fabric (something like paper piecing) for the background and trimmed it to 12-1/2" square. Then I played with the position of the numbers and letters finally fusing them when I had an arrangement I liked.

I sewed the letters with a blanket stitch to make sure they stayed attached to the background over the years.

It was time to decide on quilting. I printed a smaller photo of my quilt on 8-1/2" x 11" paper and slipped it into a plastic sheet protector. With an erasable marker I drew some designs to see what would work. (Thanks go to my fellow Four-in-Arter, Elizabeth, who passed this tip along in a post a while back.)

I did not like my first design--too much detail in my opinion.

The second design looked better. I wanted bubbles from the fish.

I wanted some movement of water so the design changed a bit as I quilted it.

I trimmed the quilt to size. The fish got button eyes and gills and mouths. I wanted to accentuate the bubbles and found some white plastic beads in my embellishment box. I think those added a good finishing touch.

I sew double folded bindings on my quilts from the back, press them to the front and topstitch with my walking foot since carpel tunnel makes hand sewing difficult. I had the binding leftover from another project and thought it would brighten the quilt even more for the Children's Library Room.