A Mini Quilt > amy a la mode

A Mini Quilt

Posted by Amy on February 10th, 2010

Guess what I found??? A gift certificate in the amount of $50 good toward any winter/spring or summer class at PNCA! No kidding! So funny — it fell off my bulletin board the other day and when I reached down to pick it up, I realized what it was. I totally forgot I had gotten this in a holiday card from PNCA this year (after taking the Denyse Schmidt class last summer). I immediately dashed off an e-mail and discovered that I could indeed apply it toward the fabric design course with Heather Ross that I have signed up for. WOO HOO!!!

Okay, now on to the little project I just finished!

I’ve been wanting to try a long list of things and finally decided that trying them out in miniature would be better than not trying them out at all. So, I got the idea for this on, I think, Friday, and finished hand-stitching the binding down at the coffee shop this morning. It measures a mere 20″ x 24″.

I am really loving it! I love how when two blocks next to each other have the same color, new shapes and patterns are created. I was testing out the pieced design here, as well as the colors (that’s gray, not black, by the way) and the quilting design. AND I managed to use up some batting scraps in the process (I really disliked using this batting — will not use it again! Some kind of cheap polyester from JoAnn’s. Yuck. It’s gone now, thankfully!) The pieced design has a secret message hidden in it. I would like to offer a prize to the first person to figure out the message, but I can’t think what to offer, so if you figure it out and want a prize, let me know and we’ll talk. How’s that?!

For the quilting design, I was testing out using this little baby I got for Christmas. It’s really for rotary cutting circles, but I wanted to try it as a template for marking concentric circles. I’d like to have something similar custom made by my local TAP plastics, but I thought I’d try out this cheaper version first to see what I thought. It actually worked pretty well! Now to think about whether I want something custom made or whether this will do…

In other, completely random news, I might be giving my first private sewing lesson this weekend. I’m totally psyched!

Anne

February 11, 2010 at 3:46 am · Reply

Ok, I’m going to give it a shot . . . leap and the net will appear. I love this quilt. I’ve done a counted cross stitch clock face with a code flag message before, so I recognized it when I saw it.

The way you made the blocks wonky and the quilting are both fantastic!

Terri

February 11, 2010 at 5:17 am · Reply

Wow, lucky you to find that coupon for our class! I love your idea of making the mini quilt for your sample. It looks great with the different solid fabrics and block designs. That cutting template was the perfect template for quilting, which looks fabulous! Did you mark it with chalk or disappearing pen? Great tip for trying out designs on a mini project.

Rebekah

February 11, 2010 at 7:07 am · Reply

Love how this mini quilt came out! Your circle quilting is beautiful. I don’t know what the message is on the front of the quilt, but it reminds me of flags used for sailing.

Martha

February 11, 2010 at 8:18 am · Reply

Your miniature quilt is great, Amy. The colors and design are fabulous — it’s like a little piece of modern art to hang on the wall. The circle quilting is particularly nice with the straight lines in the quilt pattern.

I love looking at your quilts — I think it’s partly because they’re so different from the quilts I make, but it’s also because the designs are unique and, well….they’re just Amy!

Sandi

February 11, 2010 at 6:31 pm · Reply

I see Anne figured out your secret message. Woohoo! I actually clicked over to a flag code page and started decoding, then decided to check your comments to see if anyone got it first. I’m glad I did! Great idea, and great message.