Happy Birthday, Annie!

Today is Anne's birthday. Pam and I can't be with our BFF, so we have mailed her a "small gift" this year.

Last year Pam suggested that for our birthdays we send each other quilt blocks. I agreed and so for Anne's birthday we each sent her 12 green and cream quilt blocks in "Annie's Choice" pattern. For Pam's birthday, Anne mailed Pam blocks made of Japanese Diawabo fabrics. (My arm was in a cast and I wasn't doing any sewing or quilting at the time.) I don't think either of them has put those fabrics into a quilt top yet. I told the two of them that if they gave me another UFO for my birthday I might scream!! So, they blessed me with this beautiful old quilt.

I think we have now decided that the gift of quilt blocks may not be the best idea for us! We all have so many projects going on already that we don't need another one thrown in the batch.

Pam and I are both "into" mini quilts right now. So we thought it would be fun to make Anne a few for her birthday. We bought a wire frame that holds three mini quilts and we decided to make her the quilts to hang on it.

Pam came for a quick visit in early May and we went to work on these. We giggled like school girls as we designed and stitched.

It's really fun to see what you can shrink down and make in 6 X 10". It's addictive!

We paper-pieced these 15 little 2" log cabins--there are 255 pieces in this tiny quilt! It was SO fun to see it come together!

Happy Birthday, Annie!! We hope you enjoy your little gift. Love and quilty hugs from Pam and Marcia. 

Pam's Doll Quilt from Cecile

Pam also participated in the doll swap on Lori's blog and since she doesn't have her own blog, Pam asked me to please show her quilt for her. The only problem is that Pam is hundreds of miles away from home, taking care of her daughter who just had surgery and her three very active grandsons. With no pictures of her quilt for me. 

Pam's swap quilt was made by Cecile, who lives in France. Pam was tickled to death and took a picture of herself (sans makeup) with the quilt as soon as it arrived. She asked me NOT to post that picture. ;)

An adorable pink, brown and cream nine-patch! Who wouldn't love it? It reminds of neopolitan ice cream. It definitely looks good enough to eat!

Even the back is as cute as can be! 

Cecile has a blog too, and you can read more about Pam's quilt here. Be sure to hit the translate button-unless you can read French. I would be remiss if I didn't thank Cecile for the pictures I lifted from her blog!! You'll recognize them :)

Happy swapping. 

Doll Quilt Swap-Part Two

I wrote about the doll quilt swap that I was in with Lori from Humble Quilts and showed the quilt that I made for Frances. 

But, now it's time to show you the fabulous quilt that I got from Kelly Meanix who lives in PA. She had emailed me to let me know it was on its way, so I waited my the mailbox for it to arrive!!

And was I ever thrilled when it did!! Isn't it gorgeous??? I love Nine Patch blocks and that blue is to die for!

Kelly also sent me a wonderful flower paper piecing book and the left over fabrics from my little quilt. It was so sweet of her! The book is wonderful and I can't wait to make some of the flowers in it. And the fabrics went straight into my scrap basket. Don't be surprised if you see them again soon. :)

The back is just as cute as the front-I love a pieced back! Kelly added triangles to the corners for me to hang my quilt. My husband (the woodworker) had the perfect size dowel for me and cut it to length immediately.

I hung it up with command hooks-don't you just love those things?

I think it makes a great addition to my growing wall of minis.

Thank you's to Kelly, for my beautiful quilt, and to Lori, for hosting this swap.  

Kelly has a wonderful blog called Pinkadot Quilts. I'm a new reader and fan! Check it out here. And, If you want to see more of the quilts that were swapped, head over to Lori's blog here. 

Happy quilting!

Doll Quilt Swap-Part One

I am an avid blog reader and have many that I follow. Since I only have one quilting friend who lives near me (and she's almost an hour away), blogs are great sources of inspiration for me. One of my favorites is Humble Quilts.  On April 20, Lori announced she was going to host a Doll Quilt Swap. The rules sounded simple and fun. The finished quilt was to measure no larger than 24X24", it was to be made from Civil War reproduction fabrics (love them!!), and have a label on it. Mailing deadline was May 30th. I signed up immediately and talked Pam into it too!!

My biggest challenge was deciding what to make......Nine Patch? Log Cabin? Pinwheels? I finally decided on a Scrappy Patches quilt. I had made one for myself several years ago and have it hanging in my quilt room. 

Each of the shirting blocks is cut 2X3" (finishing at 1 1/2" X 2 1/2") so this doll quilt is 11X15". I have a LARGE basket of Civil War Scraps and decided that was a great place to start. I used 126 different fabrics to make this little quilt--all of them out of my scrap basket!

Once I had all the pieces cut, I decided to sew them up on my Featherweight. 

Let the chain piecing begin! The top went together quickly.

Here you can see the quilting better. I added little triangles in the corners in case she wanted to hang it that way. I didn't include the label in this photo because it has personal info on it that I didn't want to show on my blog.

Here is the finished top. I put it in the mail the day I finished it and away it went-across the pond to England.

Yesterday I got an email from Frances. Her mini quilt arrived and she blogged about it on her blog called Fabadashery. I'm so tickled she is pleased!!

Lori is going to have a linky party on Monday for everyone to link their blog post with their doll quilt. I'm posting about the precious quilt I received tomorrow. I will include a link to Lori's blog post on Monday with Linky party info.

Happy Quilting! 

Half Square Triangle Mini Quilt

While cutting and trimming on my 2015 swap blocks I have been saving ALL my scraps. My imagination has been working overtime thinking about what I am going to make with all my leftover pieces. I love the mini bowtie quilt I made recently and I want to make more to hang on my wire display with it. Small bits of fabric left over after you  cut for blocks or little triangle tidbits you cut off of corners are perfect scraps for mini quilts. 

As I was trimming the corner triangles on my swap blocks, this little pile on my cutting table got bigger and bigger. And tiny little bits can add up to cute quilts!

I sewed  several  triangles together and trimmed them to 1 1/2" squares. They were so adorable!! I'm not used to working with such tiny pieces of fabric, but this is fun and very addictive!

When I got four of them made I just HAD to sew them into a four-patch! It's official--I am "hooked on minis!"

I sent a picture to Pam (since it's all her "fault" I made the bowtie quilt) and asked if she happened to be saving her triangles from our swap blocks too. Seconds later this photo was texted back to me! I was not surprised in the least. :)

Pam and I have decided to trade triangles since we are using different fabrics for our blocks. It will give us more variety when we sew them all together. This will be my mini project I work on along side the block swap this year. 

Happy quilting! 

Grammy

Bowtie Mini Quilt

About a year ago I bought a really cute wire stand to display three mini quilts on. I also bought a pattern with three mini Amish quilts to go on it. 

The pattern is Mini Amish Trios by Suzanne's Art House and you can buy it here. You can buy the wire stand here. Both of these websites have lots of cute stuff, so look around while you are there!

I set the frame up on my shelf and just knew it would inspire me to get busy making some mini quilts.. But, alas-it did not. :( 

Fast forward to March when Pam decided to make the bowtie mini quilt. She had cut "extra" squares and decided to send them to me. I was really excited to get them from her and even more excited when I realized she had cut enough for me to make all 15 bowties!

They were so cute that I just couldn't resist starting to sew them up right away! They went together quickly, too. I was having so much fun and before I knew it, I had the whole top finished.

I decided to quilt 1/8" around the inside and outside of each bowtie. Quilting on black fabric with black thread is hard! But I flooded the area with lots of light and it helped.

It doesn't take long to bind a 6X10" quilt, either. So, this little mini was finished in a flash.

I bought 1" clothespins at JoAnn's to hang my quilt. I didn't feel like sewing a hanging sleeve on the back and I thought the clothespins were a cute touch. One down, two to go!

Happy Mini Quilting, 

Grammy

A Little Mini

I have granddaughters.  Six of them, to be exact! You would think that by this stage of the game I would be well versed in doll quilts. But, truth be told, I have only made a few.  The girls have always loved a Barbie doll more than a baby doll and I am NOT making doll quilts tiny enough for Barbie! Recently, American Girl dolls have made an appearance in our family and this is where the doll quilts have come in. My oldest granddaughter, Katelyn, has Lanie and wanted a canopy bed with curtains, so I made this bedding and quilt for her.  She was thrilled.  

These quilt blocks were so easy because they were made from corner triangles that I cut off of a larger quilt I was making.

Emily picked out a different bed for her doll, Josephina, and liked the horse-themed bedding that came with it, so no doll quilt was required for her.
Madison's birthday was next and she picked Julie, a 1970's girl, for her American Girl doll. She wanted the same bed as her sister, Katelyn, but with a twist. I strung the beads and made the simple patchwork quilt in fabrics that just cried out 70's.

This little doll quilt, 16X22" fits the bed perfectly

I decided the other day that I am ready to try my hand at some mini quilts. I have purchased patterns for some of Lori Smith's small quilts and can't wait to make them. I also recently purchased a very small kit and decided to take a break from what I was working on and make it. This went together very quickly and I am tickled with the results. I think I see a lot more minis in my future.

This little mini is a kit I bought at Sweet Home Quilt Company.  

They call it Scrappy Patches.