Monday, April 21, 2014

Design Wall - Mini Magic

Sometimes you're just in the mood for a little mini magic and a quick finish. I found a little baggie of partially made blocks in a junk pile storage box ,and just felt like playing with them. The scraps are Civil War reproductions leftover from my Freeze Frame quilt finished in 2010, so they really needed to get sewn up into something!

These are little connecting corner blocks from a workshop I taught many years ago. The background light squares are cut 1.25" and the connecting corner dark squares are cut 7/8". When you sew four of them together they make a 2" block and you can arrange them as either a kiss (X) or a hug (O). To see a Valentine mini quilt I made using this block click here.
I had a little trouble with figuring out the setting for this quilt. I thought it needed some sashing to separate the blocks, but going totally scrappy just looks too frenetic to me. Hmmm... go with only 1 fabric sashing, or a light fabric, or no sashing?
Don't you just love playing in the quilting room?!? There are no life altering decisions to make, no wrong answers - just fun to be had! 
Did I mention that these blocks are 1"?  Yep - this is how big they are! This is not a quilt you would be able to sleep under!
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

21 comments:

beaquilter said...

Oh my gosh, those are TINY! love them!! I love the scrappy sashing you are showing, looks nice! unless you use a completely different color and no corner stones then.....? like green, black, dark brown.

Ruth said...

Adorable!

Chantal said...

Oh Kathy, you are amazing! I couldn't never make such small blocks. You just blew me away!! AWESOME !! My two pence for the sashing question would be - try a different colour. I would try blue, or pink; they go well with brown, I'd say. Do you have enought to put 16 blocks together to make one block? Then the sashing could be bigger. Just saying. No matter what you decide, it will be AMAAAZING!!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

very small!! sometimes I like working with little bitty pieces too

Mary said...

A Mini was just right for DWM today.
I know how you feel. Those darn Bonus HST keep screaming at me. Mine aren't quite as small. I think they need a constant colored sashing
Good luck with your choices.

Mary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Teresa in Music City said...

Adorable!!! I just LOVE minis :)

Deanna W said...

My crazy miniature making friend!! But playing in the sewing room is fun. I am hoping to do that today once my daughter and her friend are on the road home! I think the housecleaning can wait till tomorrow!

Janet O. said...

LOVE IT! No surprise there, right? : )
I think it looks great the way it is, but if you want more contrast you could make the sashing a different color.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

This is so cool!! Love mini - have you thought of a cheddar with red cornerstones. Or someone mentioned a brown.

Judy D in WA said...

Oh Kathy! This is fabulous! I love your itty bitty squares!

Bonnie said...

Aren't those too cute. 1". My you are brave! I like the blocks sashed but maybe using only one color would be better. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Rebecca in AK said...

Tiny blocks!! I have not tried anything that small. I like how you have it laid out, but you never know until you try some other colors and settings. I usually take a photo of each way I lay it out and then compare them.

Quilting Nonnie said...

That looks like such a cute little quilt. I admire you using "leftovers" to make a second project. I vote for a plain border to allow your x's to shine!

Peg - Happy In Quilting said...

Oh they are little...gorgeous.....

LuAnn said...

I'm really glad you found those blocks in a storage box and not a junk pile. It's a cute quilt.

AnnieO said...

Yikes! I find the bulk of seams gets too much for me at such a miniature scale--but those are definitely sweet kisses!

margaret said...

so tiny, wonder how may other projects are hidden away in storage boxes!!

Teresa Rawson said...

What a cute little project...love it! I am more and more attracted to little quilts for their speed of construction and gift potential. See? It's not even November yet and I am at least THINKING of Christmas gifts, LOL!

I love finding those project leftovers that prompt a new project...well done!

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

I love miniatures! I vote for a narrower sashing with cornerstones ... it feels to me like the wider sashing overwhelms the pieced blocks. Try that ... then if it's still too busy, try 1 fabric. Just my 2 cents worth.

Kate said...

Oh so tiny, but very pretty.