Mini Mania : Hula Hoop

It's Mini Mania time!  :)

May got away from me, so we're running a little behind our schedule sharing this one, but I think it was worth the wait!  

May's mini is our 5th in the Mini Mania book by Abbey Lane Quilts and is a fun dresden block that alternates pointed and rounded blades. I decided on Chipper by Tula Pink and that fussy cuts were in order! 

Admittedly, I had some issues with the suggested method of construction for the blades.  This one uses templates and has you sew it to a muslin and turn right sides out before attaching to the background.  As you can see in the photo below (top set of blades) that this came out really wonky for me in the corners between the blades.  I decided to start over and press the top of my blades under and glue baste before joining them.  For me, this came out better and I used my "Perfect Circles" by Karen Kay Buckley to help me with the curved blades. If you don't have Perfect Circles, check out this video by Sarah Fielke for how to make curved applique pieces.

Fussy cuts for the win!  I made these pretty easily, lining up my templates on the same part of the stripe (or dot) on the fabric.

I decided to quilt a grid in the background and used a ruler and 1" painter's tape to mark my lines. This is an easy method of marking and doesn't hurt the fabric. :)  I didn't quilt the dresden, but am considering going back to add some hand stitching with perle thread.

I used some light purple Aurifil 50 weight thread for my applique and quilting. I like the subtle effect of the pale purple on the black Crossweave background.  And can we talk about the binding stripe!? Love it!

We have kits for this one available (and we can make this in two other color ways - aqua and green - just let us know if you'd like)!

And our friend, Jennie at Clover & Violet, stitched up another version in Coral Queen of the Sea. A kit for her version is also available!

Until next time ... happy sewing! :-)

Mini Mania : Hopscotch

We are continuing to stitch our way through the Mini Mania book along with Jennie at Clover & Violet. This month, we have a cute rectangular mini called Hopscotch with spinning stars.  This one measures 10 x 24 inches and is perfect for the wall or a table.  You could even make the blocks as three smaller minis too!

For my version, I used prints from Little Miss Sunshine by Lella Boutique for Moda with my favorite background, Moda's Essential Dots in White Black.  Love that Little Miss Sunshine has some great stripes, which are the perfect binding fabric too!

I quilted pebbles in the background area and did a swirl in the center of the modified churn dash blocks.  It's kind of hard to see the pebbles in this photo, but they make the stars seem to pop off the quilt, which is a fun effect.  I also fussy cut the center of all the friendship stars in the outer border with that cute little strawberry print.  :-)

This mini requires the use of a template.  I was a little too lazy to cut one out, but used my ruler to make a guide for cutting those pieces.  First, I measured what size rectangle I would need for the shape and cut the fabric to that size.

Then I used my ruler and some washi tape to make my "template."  You can see that I lined up the edge of my ruler with the angled cut.  Then I placed washi tape along the straight edge a the top of the rectangle. I lined up the edge of the tape with the top of the fabric and sliced off the bottom angle. Easy!  (Try on a practice block if you aren't sure!)

We have two different kits for this fun mini - Option 1 is curated by Jennie and then, of course, Option 2.  Find them both in the shop here while they last!

Happy Sewing! :)

Mini Mania QAL : Leap Frog Mini Quilt

I am excited to share my Leap Frog mini quilt from the Mini Mania book by Abbey Lane Quilts. This was a fun one to make and I was able to chain piece it together pretty quickly once I got it cut out. 

I chose to use the same print in all the corner stars instead of making it scrappy as shown in the book. 

One tip I would share is to make sure you draw the lines on the back of the squares as instructed in the book.  Next time, I would also consider making my HST blocks a little larger and trimming with a Bloc Loc to make my points come together a little more easily. 

It's no secret that I love a dot background ... this one might be my new favorite - a small grey dot from Zen Chic. 

I free motioned my mini with some swirls and I love the Vintage Picnic gingham for the binding!  

We have a few kits left in both my version show here as well as Jennie's version - see her post about the Leap Frog mini here at cloverandviolet.com. 

Happy Sewing! :)

Mini Mania QAL : Leap Frog

We're moving right along in the Mini Mania Book this month.  Jennie at Clover & Violet and I are sewing the Leap Frog Mini for this month.  We picked some similar colors this time, but I love how different these will look despite a similar color scheme.

 Jennie's kit features prints from Lil Red as well as fun aquas from Basic Mixologie and Simply Colorful II.  She is choosing to emphasize the center star with the pink print. 

My version of the kit keeps the background print as the center star, but uses the same print in all four corners around the center star.  Wouldn't this be such a fun block to make multiples of for a quilt?  At 16" square, its pretty quick to sew.

I couldn't help using my favorite Hello Darling print with some new Vintage Picnic (now in stock!) for my kit ... they play so nicely together! :-)

I'll share some tips as well as my finished mini this weekend!  In the meantime, you can see my progress on Instagram (@sewlux).

Happy Sewing!  :-)

Mini Mania QAL - Hot Potato

Hi there!  There has been some sewing already this year!  (Hooray!)

A few days ago, I shared about the Mini Mania QAL that we are doing with Clover & Violet. I finished my Hot Potato Mini over the weekend and I love how it turned out!

I reversed the emphasis in the block for my version, making the background more of the area surrounding the center diamond instead using it to make the center more of a pinwheel. 

I just love this pinky-purple and orange from Carolyn Friedlander's Carkai collection. I decided to outline quilt this one to keep it nice and simple.

Can we talk about how awesome the Dentals Black print is as a binding?! It might be my new favorite!

Kits for both my version as well as Jennie's version along with the pattern books are available here.

Happy Sewing! :-)

Mini Mania Quilt Along

We're welcoming a new year with a new quilt along!

Back in October, we spotted this great little book of mini quilts by Abbey Lane Quilts.  And I loved them all on their booth wall and thought it would be fun to sew them up this year. 

For a little added fun, I asked Jennie over at Clover & Violet if she wanted to sew along with me and I was thrilled that she agreed!  So, here are the details ... 

The Mini Mania book has a total of eight mini quilts ranging in size from 12 x 16 to 21 x 21 inches. Many of them use templates, but they are nicely explained in the book.  We'll sew them in the order presented in the book - and they increase in difficulty and have different techniques.  So you'll learn some applique as well as curved piecing by the end.  

Jennie and I will each curate a kit for the minis, so there will be two options to choose from each month.  But, of course, this is also a great stash / scrap project!  And we welcome you to sew along from your stash (or with a kit).  Either way, you'll need a book for the pattern (sold separately from our kits). 

Kits will be available on the 10th of the month, from January through August 2016.  And Jennie and I will both share our finished minis on the 20th of the month along with how we decided to quilt them and any tips for piecing we think you'd want to know. 

The kits for the first mini quilt, Hot Potato, are now available. 

We hope you'll sew along with us!  Share your minis on Instagram with #minimaniaqal

Happy sewing! :-)