Friday Finishes

This week, I finished a mini quilt for the Ocean Wave Quilters Guild scholarship auction.  I have never made a true mini quilt.  I was inspired by this half-square triangle mini on Pinterest.

I decided that if I was going to make a mini quilt, it was going to be very mini.  I started with a design made on a grid.

My final blocks are 1" squares.  I continued the 1" white squares through the whole quilt, rather than adding on a large triangle to the bottom right corner (which would have been SO much easier!).  I underestimated the difficulty of lining up 1" square rows!  It's not perfect, but it's art, and art isn't perfect.  The quilt measures 17" x 18".

 I used all scraps for this project, aside from the Moda white solid.  There are bits from Cotton + Steel, Tsuru by Rashida Coleman-Hale, and some Art Gallery Lace Elements.

I love how the quilting turned out.  I struggled with tension on the back for awhile before getting it right.  Well worth the effort!

If you'll be in Sitka the first week of March, stop by the auction!

New home, new project

When the Tsuru line by Rashida Coleman-Hale came out, I stashed a half-yard bundle with our new home in mind. As a military family that usually rents homes when we move, we are always happy to find walls that are painted any color other than white.  But our new living room, with 15-foot high tan walls and beige carpeting, needed some color.  Badly. I finally plugged in my sewing machine for the first time since May and got to work!

Before...

Knowing that two kids and a dog are going to use these pillow covers, I designed them to be easily removable and washable.  And since the beautiful fabric is organic cotton from Cloud 9, I quilted it onto some Pellon Thermolam to make it a bit sturdier for everyday use.  We have a habit of using our living room pillows as lap desks for computers, iPads, and maybe, um, ice cream bowls.  The quilting also makes the pillows feel extra cozy.

Zippers from my stash makes them easy to remove

Simple, straight-line quilting

I pieced each pillow for a little pop of contrast on the front, and used a coordinating print on the back, making them reversible, too.

 It's amazing what a little color can do to make a place feel like home.

And the kids are making a game out of rearranging the pillows every time I leave the room.

Next up: repainting that coffee table so it doesn't blend into the floor...