mini nine, mini ten....and more!

Last evening I committed to making two more of these Figgy Pudding mini quilts. But that's my own fault.

I'm in the final bits of preparation for the big event on Sunday, and that meant getting the seating plan done and deciding who gets to take home which quilts.

There was much moaning and wailing as my husband and oldest laughed at the spectacle and wondered why I was doing this in the first place! Because it's fun, that's why. Please ignore the meltdown I'm having, thinking about all these little quilts leaving.

So, I talked to my mom and sister in law and suggested that I could make their favorites again, and I would assign two more of my favorites to their seats. That way I can keep three of these little things that I just CAN. NOT. part with, and they get a totally custom mini. I think they're OK with that - or they heard the hysteria in my voice and agreed so as not to upset the psycho.

Mini nine is 'Whirling Skaters', from my whirlygig love. I made a 2.5" wide template so that I could easily cut each piece from a jelly roll strip.

I thought this fabric looked like it had been twirled on already by lots of happy skaters!

Mini ten is a small, shrunken portion of the free pattern that Moda had with the Figgy Pudding line. Totally lazy, I didn't want to do the quilty math to get the tree sections the size I needed. So I just drafted it to scale and paper pieced it. That worked out perfectly!

My new thing on this quit was to use an invisible thread. I didn't want any more busy swirls in the dark background, and I though a dark thread would be too distracting in those pretty, light blocks. It went much better than expected - I thought I'd have lots of breakage and tangled messes. Not a one!

The sun is finally out today, so I should get some good pictures of the table cloth quilt. I'll also be spending some quality time with my little quilts that will be leaving. I have to make sure I don't embarrass myself on Sunday by tackling the women as they go.

Aussies only

Want to trade for some fabric?

I want - no NEED - this book

Halt's Peril
Ranger's Apprentice S.
By John Flanagan

The whole family loves this series. John Flanagan came to our city, and he's as wonderful as the books. Fun, witty, great adventure.

Two Rangers and a Skandian - Halloween 2007

The US publisher is three or four books behind Australia, and they only come out every six months or so. I have ordered all the past books, and am not willing to wait another couple years to find out what happened after the last book's cliffhanger.

I can order the book from Fishpond, but I thought it would be more fun to trade a similar dollar value of fabric with somebody over there. Anyone interested?

mini eight: colors

I showed my Mom and Dad the Snippets quilt I did a while ago with two turnovers. My Dad especially liked it - the even geometry of the layout appealed to him as much as it had to me. So, I had to make a mini version for my tea table.

It was actually a bit easier - I find half square triangles from squares nicer to deal with than starting with triangles to begin with.

My mom helped me out and hand stitched the binding on this and one other quilt. She got attached and has claimed this as hers!

I have the big tablecloth quilt done, but need some non-gloomy weather to get good photos. I know I'm nearing the finish line, besides the fact that I am totally unable to come up with a good name for this little quilt, I went out and bought a bunch of fabrics and patterns for some new projects! I'll share those later this week, too.

mini seven: gnome

Gnomeling pattern by Sonja Callaghan

Why, hello there! A sweet little gnome and his mushroom

Snail pattern by Jennifer Ofenstein

Visited by a friendly woodland snail.

I wanted to do at least one paper pieced quilt, and with the gnome thing I had going so far, these cute guys were the obvious choice.

Once again, Figgy Pudding (with a linen mushroom stump and random stash white) I created the creatures, then played around until I could get them to look like a quilt. I really like the little windows-onto-the-woods thing I ended up with.

It's about 14"x16.5" and I don't know if I'll be able to give this one up!

Shhhhh don't tell the kids

I ate five of their Halloween candies this afternoon.

I had to. Really.

After the near-instant gratification of quilting ten minis, this large table cloth feels like it will never end. I am not above bribing myself.

Besides, the Reese's were totally calling my name.

Soul-filling inspiration (and mini six: windows)

I think that captures how I feel about what Jacquie, of Tallgrass Prairie Studio, shares with us. For the blogger quilt festival she gave a wonderful peek into her creative process. Go check it out if you haven't already, also read the end to that story, then come back.

The second quilt I ever made was inspired by her wonky log cabin tutorial. The greens didn't turn out quite as I expected, but I love all those happy pear blocks.

I am constantly inspired by all her amazing improv quilting - so it's a bit ironic that I'm totally copying that which I love for being so original. I'm hoping that as I go along, I'll gain the basic experience necessary to start improvising on my own. Actually making all these minis in such a short amount of time has even helped a bit.

I wanted to create the windows of pieced strips that I loved in Jacquie's 'Snippets' quilt. I think she would be proud of all the chopping and rearranging I did to make these windows work on my tiny 13"x17" quilt.

I really like the texture of linen on the past quilts I've made, so I used some natural linen here. And the pattern of the fabric I chose to bind the quilt seemed to compliment the stripey red and teal windows.

I worked in one more creative soul with Aneela's adorable spoonflower creations - a snow globe

and snowman ornament.

mini five: Snow Fun

The big star and the fabrics made me think of a snow fall.

Add in super cute Munki Munki snow men, and you have 'Snow Fun'!

I wasn't sure about his one, but once I added those red pieces and framed it with the red binding, everything seemed to come together wonderfully!

This one finished at 14 x 17.5" and of course I used several Figgy Pudding honey bun strips, along with a few larger cuts, and some random white that was in my stash.

My husband is wondering if I'm ever going to do anything but sew in the near future. That would be AFTER the November 15th event, or when I'm done (which is hopefully before midnight on November 14th!)

Table attempt

I spent the day at my parent's house yesterday, trying to finalize how my tea table will be set. My mom and I had a grand time.

With an aisle's worth of Hobby Lobby decorative glass and other random crafty bits, we piled and moved stuff for several hours.

We ended up using several things from around my mom's house - like that turquoise Scottie planter. I may accidentally lose that one!

I ended up leaving with a pretty good list of needed finishing touches. One of which was a red, square pincushion. So that's what I did today.

He's about 4" square, and an inch high. Stuffed with ground walnut shells again. I love them! They give a wonderful weight and form that lentils do not.

I obviously had to add a little gnome. Now that I've tasted the kool-aid, I am going to need serious restraint to keep from turning everything into a fabric covered button.

Thought I'd show the cute back - I really do love that Figgy Pudding!