Fast finish: Marmalade pillow

A good long while ago I won some Marmalade Mini charm packs and a FQ or Marmalade fabric from Mary on Lake Pulaski.

I sorted the charms into colour groups and made some granny squares. But when I sewed them together I didn't love it. So much so that I put it away and let it languish, unloved in my sewing room.

The offending mini - ugh

Six months or so later and needing a fast finish I decided to just get it done. I looked at it and figured out what I wasn't loving - the sashing between the blocks was too wide and it was just throwing out the balance of everything. So I unpicked and the sashing, slimmed it down (diet for quilts?), sewed it back together and was in love.

I finished it off with some serpentine quilting and ta-da!! A pillow top I loved.

Much better with the skinny sashing

The backing is a great match and I had the perfect green zipper on hand

The moral of the story - if it isn't singing to you, leave it and come back and fix it later. I am so glad I did because I am very pleased with how it turned out. 

Mini mini mini

Never one to avoid jumping on a bandwagon (the reason why my to do list is ever expanding), I was unable to resist when Make Modern Magazine launched its mini mini quilt competition.

The brief: make a mini quilt of whatever design you like but it must finish at 6" square or less. 

Now, if you haven't already, you should jump over to Instagram and check out the hashtag #mmminimini and have a look at some of the amazing and teeny entries. 

For my first attempt I made a teeny version of Susan's (@canadianabroad) quilt from issue 34 of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine. But when I miniaturised it I didn't do the math right and it finished up too big (at a whopping 7 1/4 inches it was huge)!! Still it is super cute and scratched an itch I had to make that quilt. 

My first attempt - a huge mini!

Now my intention had been to only make one mini mini (WIPs to finish and all that) and I didn't have any immediate inspiration. However the following weekend I was at the school mass and was looking up at the altar where there were statues of Mary and the Sacred Heart either side standing in front of teeny tiny mosaic tiles. Ding! You could say it was divine inspiration. I went home and made up what I am calling Petite Portholes. I am so pleased with how it came out and I am planning on making a full sized version and writing a pattern for it. 

This time I cut each of those squares at 3 1/4 inches so it would definitely be 6 inches finished

Close up: I love this sweet little deer. Each of those squares is 1/2 inch. To make up the background patchwork I ironed the squares onto lightweight fusible interfacing and then sewed the seams up guaranteeing perfect points

Now this very weekend, the winners of the competition were announced and I was surprised and honoured to be one of them. My prize (wait for it) is quilting from Carolyn of Freebird Quilting Designs. I have a major crush on Carolyn's quilting and had actually been in touch with her about quilting my Escher Quilt, so everything feels a bit pre-determined. I am so excited and grateful for such an amazing and generous prize. 

A very gigantic thank you to Make Modern Magazine for a fun competition. It is an awesome publication and I highly recommend it.