a mini finish

The finish I'm blogging about this week was actually made a few weeks ago, but I hadn't had the chance to get decent pictures. That being said, for some reason, I still cannot seem to get a decent whole shot of it. I think I need better lighting, or perhaps, some actual sunlight?

Anyways. Moving on.

The pattern is one of Camille Roskelley of Simplify's mini patterns. This one is the mini Swoon. I love it. 

I am on a "use it or lose it" kind of kick lately, so I pieced this using some of my tiny stash of Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. To accent the Ruby, I used Riley Blake's La Creme polka dots. (Seriously, what else would I use?)

This mini quilt measures about 19" square. The finished block size is about 8.5 inches, and the smallest piecing cut was 1.5 inches.

I have a confession to make. For some reason, when making this, I read the instructions about trimming the finished blocks wrong and accidentally trimmed my blocks way too much. As a result, some of my points have been cut off. <<headsmack>>

I may also have a bit of an issue with regular sized HST's (half-square triangles). I've learned that micro-sized ones seem to amplify any imperfections and drastically affect block sizes. AND, for some reason, my machine kept wanting to eat up my tiny little blocks. It could be because they were tiny little blocks.  In retrospect, I should have changed the plate on the machine so that only the needle could fit in (as opposed to the plate with a wider opening for a zig zag stitch). Perhaps it would have eased things a bit.

I may make this again, in the near future, perhaps a bit more accurately. This is a really quick finish for a little project, and it's just so darling.

I'm really loving minis at the moment, but perhaps I need to finish my big Swoon quilt before I venture any further down the path of starting new projects.

Linking up with Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts, for Finish It Up Friday.

Progress

This week, over at  Amanda's A Crafty Fox's blog, we are cutting our fabrics into strips and then diamonds and hexagons. (I LOVE hexagons and star flowers, so this is bound to be a keeper.)

 

I really cannot wait to see how we construct the quilt top. It'll be fun to play with the diamonds to see what pattern I end up with.

 

My sixth Swoon block is now complete - only three to go. 

 

 

I need to work on accuracy when working with half square triangles. I've been wondering if the marking pen I've been using doesn't have a sharp enough tip which is causing my seam allowances to be slightly off periodically which shifts things for the whole block. While this won't really affect the quilt as a whole, I really prefer accurate piecing. I'm going to try using a mechanical pencil for my next block to see if there is a difference.

 

Our family spent a day at a corn maze/family farm last Saturday - it was gorgeous and hot. We had to soak the dirt off the kids that night, but it was definitely worth it - they loved every sweaty, dusty, laughing moment.

 

 

There was a porch with a row of rainbow painted rocking chairs. It was so beautiful.

 

And it was the perfect spot for a little person to sit and breathe... 

 

 

 

... before getting up to run again.

 

 

Today, I'm linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced's Work In Progress Wednesday.

 

New Beginnings

To quote another craft blogger as she began her entry to the world of blogging.... Here I go.

I've always wanted to blog and have been so inspired by so many craft bloggers out in the Blogiverse that I wanted to join in the fun. If nothing else, it'll allow me to catalogue my crafting journey.

This week has found me completing a couple more "Swoon" quilt blocks (designed by Camille Roskelley of Simplify). These blocks are addicting to make. I seriously LOVE them. I want to make a king size quilt out of them and will probably increase the amount of blocks from 9 to 16.

Here are my first 3:

For these blocks, I've used "Vintage Modern" by Bonnie and Camille. I love, love, love these fabrics.

This is the first time I've ever made the "flying goose" block - I was shocked at how easy it was. I've saved up the little triangles that you end up cutting off to put towards my "Farmer's Wife" quilt that is in the works (but more about that in another post).

That should do it for now. Till next time...

Jade