Ridiculously Small Granny

Mini Granny, a photo by simple girl, simple life on Flickr.

I joined another couple doll quilt swaps on Flickr. At this point you would be correct in assuming I am officially a doll quilt addict. For me they are surprisingly satisfying.

This particular block is for a round of the DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap, where the only requirement is using any and all prints of Denyse Schmidt. For the record she would be my one and only fabric crush!

I am trying to stretch myself in all things creative, so for this project I am trying super tiny piecing. This block is, of course, the wildly popular granny square block from Blue Elephant Stitches. I chose to stay out of the granny square madness that was going on awhile back but now that it has died down a bit I'm ready to give it a go.

I started with 1.5 inch strips so this block finishes somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 inches. That  means each square is 1 inch finished.  Ridiculous, I know, but you have no idea how giddy it makes me to have such tiny blocks! Does that qualify me as a quilting nerd?? I think so. But I'm good with that. :) 

I've got a few more blocks to make before I'm finished. Then it's back to brainstorming for the last doll quilt swap I joined. Wish me luck...

Oh, Happy Day!

First up, the winner of the giveaway yesterday is rmb.  

Congrats! Your charms are on their way.

Now, on to today...

It was a happy day indeed when I received this beautiful hexie doll quilt from the lovely Melissa as part of DQS13. Isn't it beautiful?!  I thought she did a very good job interpreting my crazy mosaic. 

I love that she used some low volume prints, as well as bright cheery ones. Some of the fabrics are fussy cut so you have to look closely to see their awesomeness.  (Did you manage to find the tic-tac-toe fabric?)  I have yet to do anything with hexagon's so I'm happy she chose that design.

 

 She obviously stalked me well since she added 2 vintage sheet FQ's as part of my swag along with the other goodies I received.  Again, a very sweet surprise.

And lastly, a picture of the quilt hanging in it's natural habit amongst friends. :)
I think it looks Fantastic!!

Now if I can just get cranking on two more swap minis I have with looming deadlines...

Three Bestie Friends

 My youngest daughter is best friends with our two little neighbor girls, who happen to be sisters. Most days the three of them are inseparable.

This little project started way back in the spring of last year with these photos. As a recap: I was letting the girls play with my scraps while I was sewing bee blocks. After they were done "creating" I decided to be a fun mom and sew up their little creations into real quilts that they could use for their favorite stuffed animals. 

Well, a year later they are done!
 For starting out as a little playtime distraction I sure think they turned into cutie little quilts.

To finish off their blocks I raided my vintage sheet stash.
The girls were wanting anything pink or purple, so I found some scraps and worked them into a basic doll quilt size.  Each one has a little different flair, which I love. 

Here are the girls' favorite stuffed animals: Spotty, Horsey, and Dog enjoying their blankets.


The girls have been swaddling and cuddled their animals many times over in these little quilts.
It's been fun watching them turn into little moms.

As a side note, look at the cool design Lynn was able to add to the quilting!  Wouldn't that be cute in a big quilt as well?  

Happy Friday!

Emily

It's a "Baby" Mini

When I first started doing swaps I found it kind of difficult to send off all my hard work to a perfect stranger knowing full well I'd never see my project again. (Anyone else feel the same??) So early on I made a personal goal to make "copies" of my work to keep for myself.  It makes for more work, for sure, but in the end makes it a whole lot easier for me to send off my work.  Besides, why should someone else have ALL my best work?

 In that spirit, here is the "baby" mini copy I made of my quilt from DQS13.

It measures a tiny 12" square.

Everything else is the same: fabrics, paper piecing, hand-stitching, backing, and binding.  

I love it just as much as the original! Though I have to admit that the reason it's smaller is because I couldn't stand the thought of paper-piecing any more blocks.  Twenty-five tiny blocks was enough!

Here is a little side-by-side comparison for your viewing pleasure.

 I plan on hanging it on my mini quilt wall in my sewing room next to this and this.  One day I hope to have a wall filled with beautiful mini's!  These make for a good start, don't ya think?

Sincerely,

Emily (the Mini Quilt Lover)

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See more mini quilt awesomeness on my Mini Love pinterest board as well as on the DQS flickr page.

DQS 13

Today I am putting the finishing touches on my doll quilt swap package with the hope that I might actually be able to get it in the mail by the end of the day.

I'm always a little anxious about sending out my work to a total stranger because you never really know how it will be received by the recipient.  I'm crossing my fingers that I was able to capture all that my partner wanted in this little cutie.  I really like it, so I hope she does too.

 I decided to hand quilt again. 

 I really like the look of hand quilting, though it can be very time-consuming -- I'm a slow hand-quilter!  But working on these smaller scale projects let's me get some practice time in as well as letting me get my hand-stitch "fix".  Win-Win!  

Call me crazy, but I still have a desire to hand quilt an entire large quilt... Someday!

 This round I tried to be a little less boring and make a "fancy" label.  

(Names are blacked out to protect the innocent :) 

Some of the swap labels can be pretty amazing.
Mine never has been. 

So now that it's done, I'm off to wrap it up with some goodies and send it on it's way to *undisclosed location* while I'm forced to wait impatiently patiently for my mini to arrive.

Oh, the anticipation!

Emily

Previous post about this quilt here.

Block tutorial here. 
Linking up to Finish It Up Friday

Looming Deadline = Productivity

I have to confess that I totally spaced the fact that the deadline for this round of the doll quilt swap is mere days away (Feb. 7) until I was perusing the flickr pool and saw that some people had already mailed their quilts off! Ack!  Since I hadn't started (beyond pulling fabrics and ideas) I sort of panicked there for a minute.  

So, last night as my family went off to sleep I sat down to "start" on my quilt, and... well...

I went a little crazy, burned the midnight oil and busted out the whole thing.  Today I'm paying the price for my lack of sleep, but ultimately I am happy to have it done.  Definitely a relief.

Here's what I made:

 I can't reveal too much about my partner, but suffice it to say she likes bright, saturated colors.  I'm guessing this will fit the bill.

I chose to do some mini paper piecing.  These blocks are a tiny 4" finished.
I had a bit of trouble lining up the points with my first couple blocks but after some trial and error was able to get them perfect.   Then it went pretty smoothly.  I am very happy with it!  I hope my partner is, too.  

Now I have to decide on quilting... and fast!
...I'm open to suggestions.

:)
Emily

block instructions found here

DQS 13

Nothing like another round of the doll quilt swap to stir up some anxiety and excitement.  I don't know why this swap makes me break into cold sweats, but it does.  And yet, I signed up again...

1. DS Quilts Mini, 2. Sunday Stash #115, 3. What I've been working on, 4. Ellsworth Kelly quilt - spontaneous color, 5. DQS9 - Done!, 6. Nearly 20 Months Later, 7. Quilt layout?, 8. Chicopee Chevron Quilt for FLiQS Swap, 9. finished!, 10. Boy Churn Dash quilt, 11. DS DQS 3 - Hope Valley Irish Chain, 12. Work Quilt #2 - Detail, 13. Modern Mini Quilt, 14. All done!, 15. three and six lap quilt, 16. Doll Quilt Swap 12 Front

Here is the mosaic I made for this round.  My pics are a bit different than last round, a bit random even.  So let me explain why I chose these particular inspiration pieces:

I am currently obsessed with orange peel quilts.  They, along with double wedding rings, are on my quilting "bucket list".  Polka dots in any (or all) colors make me happy.  I like flying geese, simple solid quilts, traditional blocks made modern, hand quilting, and bright pops of color.  Denyse Schmidt fabrics are a personal fav right now.  And I am jumping on the text fabric love bandwagon.  

There you have it. My likes summed up in one little mosaic.  

What would your mosaic say about you?

Doll Quilt Received!!

I finally received my doll quilt from the swap.  And I couldn't be happier! 

This intricate little log cabin quilt arrived on my doorstep just as I was beginning to think I'd been forgotten. Okay, not really, but I was definitely feeling impatient and anxious while I waited!  :)

Funny thing is, I had Debbie and she had me!  That was a surprise.  I had no idea we'd be swapping to each other.

(For whatever reason, I couldn't get the color right in any of the pictures I took.  This one is close, but still not exact.) 

Look at the awesomeness!  She quilted the back separately from the front. 

And as Leslie said, "Ooooh, French knots!!" 

 Oh, I noticed. 

I wish you all could actually see it in person, though.  I mean look at this... 

The piecing is teeny-tiny!  Each log cabin piece measures 1/4" wide.  

Ridiculous!  

I am definitely doing this swap again!

My Finished Doll Quilt

After mulling around ideas and brushing away my fears, 

here is what I came up with for the doll quilt swap.

A happy (Bright!) little churn dash quilt.

 The small scale blocks worked out so perfect!  Just what I had in mind.

My partner requested solids, as she had never made a solids only quilt before. 

That one was easy for me.  I love a good solid.

The color inspiration came from one of her mosaic pics.

Believe me when I say I am SO happy with how it turned out. 

My fears were unfounded, as they usually are...

I decided to hand quilt it (a first for me!).  

Again, so happy with how that worked.  

It's not perfect, but I got better with each stitch.

Dare I say it makes me want to hand quilt an entire quilt someday?!

In the end I knew it would be a tough one to give away, so...

I turned my bigger tester blocks into a quilt for me!
A little matcher to hang on my wall.
Win, win!

And now, I am officially DONE with this project.
Just waiting on my doll quilt to arrive!
Oh, the anticipation...

Linking up to WIP Wednesday
and Finish It Up Friday

I'm In...Now what?!

Somewhere in all the madness that is my daily life I signed up for the current round of the Doll Quilt Swap (aka DQS) on Flickr--and somehow I got in!  At the moment I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into.  My insecurities are rearing their ugly head today.  "Am I good enough to be in this swap?"  "Can I make something that someone else will love as much as I do?"  "I've never sewn teeny tiny pieces." "Where do I start?"  "Am I going to have time?"  yadda, yadda, yadda...

 So while I mull over some ideas, and chase away my negative thoughts, here are the mosaics I made for the person who has me.  What do you think?  Is this a good representation of what I like?

  (For photo credits check out my flickr favs page.)

And, since I'm new to the whole DQS thing, I'm not exactly sure what this is all about, but we were asked to take this pig template and create a polka dotted pig mini. There is fabric involved for those playing along, so...I'm playing!  Here's mine:

I've titled it  

'Bacon' in the Sun 

"After some time laying out on the beach
Portia Pig realized she'd forgotten the sunscreen!"

And now, I'm off figure out what the heck I'm going to do for my partner!!!  Let the stress and over thinking begin!

BTW, You can see more pigs here along with all the amazing doll quilts made over that past 11 (!) rounds.  Seriously amazing pieces of art over there!

Weekend Mini Quilt

Sometimes, not often, knowing how to sew can be a pain.  When your children figure out, or imagine, that you can do anything with a machine, fabric, and thread it can get tricky.  There's always the dilemma of time vs. money.  Which do you have more of?  In this case, I figured I'd have more time--not really, but I'm game to get rid of more scraps in my sewing room.

B. has a birthday party tomorrow and after receiving this little quilt for Christmas made for her stuffed animals to use,

she requested that I make another one for her little friend's animals.  Along with a pillow to match.  And they needed to be blue.  No surprise there--I don't know if the friend's favorite color is blue, but it is currently B's.

I'm always kind of amazed how good scrap quilts come out when it doesn't seem like anything you have actually matches.  I'm pleased with this little quilt.  A's stuffed animals should stay nice and warm.

Back View

Satin stitch used for finishing the binding

Details:

Cut 3" x 6" rectangles

Assembled 9 rows across, 4 down

Shift 1 block to the right each row to get stairstep effect

Finished dimensions:
Quilt 23" x 22" 
Pillowcase 9" x 5 1/2"
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Orange and Purple quilt finished dimensions: 21" square. 

Used 16 - 6" cut square blocks

Zig Zag Doll Quilt

Leslie is wanting to make a zig zag quilt for her front room. I told her I'd do some practicing and see how easy or hard it would be. This little doll quilt is the result of my practice. I started it back in February when I was having a major doll quilt binge.

I love how it turned out, but I thought it was a real stinker to make. I'm thinking it was because the triangles were so small (3.5 inches or 8.9 cm). Lots of little pieces to try and work with~not my idea of a good time!

Since it was a trial quilt I just pulled out some fabrics from my stash. This backing fabric I really love. I made my girls skirts out of it last year.

I sort of used this method to make the quilt. If Leslie and I decide to tackle a big zig zag quilt, I guarantee we will be using this one instead, because it doesn't use triangles!

Lastly, here is another doll quilt I made during my binge for our little 3 yr old friend Libby. I stole the last bits of her mom's AHenry Pears and Apples fabric so the quilt would match the play kitchen her mom made her for Christmas.

I never thought in a million years that I'd ever be making doll quilts, but they are proving to be quite fun for me! If only I didn't have so many ideas...

Browse through more great zig zags on flickr. This one happens to be a favorite of mine. If you like Monet, check out this and this.

(Don't forget to sign up for our swimsuit giveaway!)