Quilting the Mini!
Today, we'll discuss simple quilting ideas for the Mother’s Day Mini Challenge!
Some background: We challenge you to get this mini quilt done in time for Mother’s Day – it can be for your favorite Mom, or for yourself. I made the sample here on the blog in solids and tone-on-tones, but you can use whatever you have in your scrap bag!
We emailed quilting ideas, a page to sketch out your quilting plan, and some quilting templates to our newsletter subscribers this week; block and border instructions were emailed earlier in the month.
Can you get the pattern? Yes! If you subscribe to the Poorhouse Post in the month of April (2021), you will get the instructions on the Monday following the date that you subscribed. (Note - if you are reading this after April 2021, the pattern is no longer available).
Take a look at the completed center block here. We added borders here.
Let’s get quilting! I sandwiched my quilt top and backing with Bosal’s Katahdin, Autumn weight. It’s a 100% cotton batting – it is a joy to stitch through!
Here are my thoughts on quilting a mini:
1. You can definitely hand quilt. In the interest of finishing this blog post in April, I will decline.
2. I like to think of minis as an opportunity to practice my quilting.
3. Practice does not equal perfection.
4. Walking foot quilting is my friend.
So let’s talk about using my good buddy Wynona (the Walking foot) to make an interesting piece!
Wynona walks with me. She can echo the straight piecing with ease. She can accomplish gradual curves as long as I am patient. I decided to apply a quarter circle or a baptist fan to this design in the intersections around the purple star, to the North, South, East and West. In the picture below, I am just auditioning how this will look with regular paper.
To prepare the block for quilting, stabilize the block by stitching in the ditch (see red lines below). Do this at the borders (you can choose to stabilize more if you’d like). Use a neutral thread so that it blends.
How to stitch repeatable curves? Freezer paper. It’s a simple technique that can be used with any quilt design! Poorhouse Post subscribers received a few templates for tracing. Trace the design onto the mat side of the freezer paper. (The shiny side has a plastic coating that temporarily adheres to fabric with a medium hot iron). To make tracing super simple, tape down both the design and the freezer paper and trace with a pencil. Another option is freezer paper sheets for ink-jet printers – great for folks who use freezer paper often!
Cut the freezer paper pieces out with your paper scissors, of course! Then, with a medium hot iron, press them in place.
To make it easier to stitch, remove what you don’t need. In this case, remove the inner quarter circle and the middle ring.
Stitch right at the edge of the freezer paper pieces. The walking foot (Wynona) gives you nice even stitches.
Add some straight walking foot lines as well!
Break up the freezer template pieces to use elsewhere on the piece as a way to repeat the design. As you can see below, I added just the quarter circle to the corners!
Here is the completed piece:
Simple and scrappy! We will be binding and adding a fun label, so stay tuned - you can get a gift done early for Mother’s Day!
Here’s another fun giveaway. If you are a Poorhouse Post subscriber, you are already entered. We have a set of charm squares of Windham Fabric’s Aerial (5” squares) and a pack of Maywood Studios Measure Twice (5” squares). I will be picking 2 winners. Our giveaway is limited to US residents only.
(I will add the winners from last week’s giveaway to that post when they are confirmed).
You can increase your chances of winning by posting a pic of your block and tagging Poorhouse Quilt Designs on either Facebook or Instagram!
Remember, it’s not too late to get the pattern, just subscribe to our email newsletter during April 2021! To subscribe, enter your info in the box at the right ---->!
If you subscribe, you will get a pattern on the Monday following the date that you subscribed. (Note - if you are reading this after April 2021, the pattern is no longer available).
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you have a great week!
-Kris
