Mini Granny Square Quilt Blocks

 Earlier in the month I made two cute little Granny Square blocks but forgot to share them with you.

Well, you might have noticed them when I shared my Love Blooms Circle quilt back on June 13th.  They were made from some of the scraps.

The idea came about after telling my quilty buddy Judy about Lori Holts new studio tour video. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend taking a look.  Lori has the whole second floor of her new home as her studio...A quilters dream!  I had watched it several months ago.  After sharing the video with Judy I decided to watch it again.  This time the Granny Square quilt on her bed stole my heart and before I knew it, I had the urge to start a new quilt.  Luckily common sense kicked in and it was added to my bucket list.

But I could see no harm in making just one block as a test and a reminder.  Lori's quilt came from her book called Great Grannie Squared.  I'm pretty sure I won this book online years ago but it's such a simple block made from squares I didn't a need for a pattern or taking the time to see if I still owned the book.  I decided to fly by the seat of my pants and just make a block.  

Once I had made the 6.5 inch block the wheels started turning...what if I made a quilt with even smaller blocks?!!  How low can you go?!  

Within no time I had a 3.5 inch little cutie.  If I should decide to make the quilt using the 3" block it would take (529) blocks.  The block has 41 pieces!  Oh yes, I think this will be my next big quilt with little blocks.  Of course, after I finish the Cake Stand Basket Quilt that I haven't worked on in about 2 months.

Making the two blocks into mini quilts was not as easy as I thought it would be.  Putting the binding on tiny quilts is not easy.  Heck, it's not exactly easy on large quilts.

For now, they are pinned to the wall as a reminder of my plans.

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~ Bluebirds and Blossoms ~

Some of the best ideas come from playing.  This little quilt was started almost a year ago as a way to unwind after weeks of non stop work.  You can see the start of it here.   Playing with a little pile of pretty scrap fabrics makes the world right again.  I call this style of designing "flying by the seat of my pants".  It's hard to describe my process with most of my patterns.  The best description would be I play the "What If" game.  You can see some ideas I played around with here.  It has hung on my design wall all this time because I felt it needed more.  More what?  I had no clue.  But I would pull it down occasionally, play around with a few design ideas and back up on the wall she would go with no changes made.  After several request for the pattern I decided to just leave her as is and write the pattern.  Say hello to Bluebirds and Blossoms!

This tiny little quilt finishes at 24" x 24".   A perfect project for using up the small bits of scraps that some would toss in the trash.   The largest piece of scrap needed for the applique would be around 3" x 3" but most of the pieces can be cut from 2" x 2 scraps. 

To keep it quick and easy I combined two different styles of applique, raw edge and turned edge for the dresdens.  Some of the applique was stitched in place with Superior Clear Mono-poly thread and some I matched thread to the fabric.

The over the top quilting was a last minute decision also.  Over the last year I've been doing a lot of light quilting on my quilts.  However I love to quilt things to death.  This quilt was the perfect size for quilting it to death.  It allowed me to do what I love but not take 40 hrs to finish.

Finding the perfect spot for my new little cutie was easy.   I wanted in a place where I could see it everyday.  Some place where it's cheerfulness could brighten my day.  What better place than at my desk!  It fits perfectly!   This will make those hours spent at the computer so much easier to do.

The pattern has been added to my Etsy shop here.  It's available in both PDF instant download and Mailed copies.  The mailed copy has a full size Applique Placement Sheet included.   The PDF instant download the Applique Placement Sheet will need to be glued or taped together.  

  

#bluebirdsandblossomsquilt #tinydresden #minidresden #podunkpretties

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Free Mini quilt pattern - Grow Up

At the beginning of the year I promised myself to make all the free mini quilts in the Aurifil Designer of the month program.  For those of you that follow my blog regularly you know I've failed at my attempt to be part of a quilty group once again.   This is  the second mini completed.  My January Aurifil mini, can be seen here.  The excuses for not honoring the promise to myself are many.  So let's just act like it never happened and take a look at the one I made this month.  In true Podunk style sticking with a pattern as written was impossible.   The borders were omitted because there wasn't a fabric in my stash that tickled my fancy.   The pattern also calls for wool applique.  There's no wool in my stash, it's just not my style at the moment. 

  

These little quilts are a great way to use up scraps and get the satisfaction that only comes from finishing a project.  All of the fabrics in this quilt are scraps.  Well all but the backing. The backing fabric is one of my favorite prints.  I've been holding onto about one yard of it for just the right project.  

The pattern also called for hand embroidery on the tulips.  My version of this quilt was to make the tulips the focal point.  I felt like the embroidery would have been too much since my tulip center print was sorta busy to the eye.

While digging through the scrap bins looking for red gingham binding strips I found the red stripe fabric.  It was almost a squeal moment!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it looks on this quilt! 

The SITD quilting around each basket keeps the quilting simple letting your eye rest on the red tulips and binding.  If you look closely at the bottom row of baskets you can see where I ripped out the start of quilting inside the baskets.  

So who wants to make one?!  You can find  Nancy Rinks free Grow Up pattern at Auribuzz.   If you make one and share it on the flickr group your automatically enter in a give away.  All the details can be found on the Auribuzz Website  along with links to the previous months free patterns.

  Hope to see you there!

~ Lea Anne ~

Linking up over at My Quilt Infatuation

Fort Worth Fabric Studio

Crazy Mom Quilts

Quokka Quilts

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Wordless Wednesday

Okay I really can't keep my big mouth shut for a Wordless Wednesday.  I should be quilting my last quilt on the frame but I was seduced into making this adorable little quilt.  Can I help it if it has 3 very seductive elements.  

1. its a free pattern

2. baskets

3. flowers

Need I say more?

~ Lea Anne ~

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Scalloped quilt border

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a mini made from some miscut fabric.  Several of you wanted a tutorial for the scallop border.  Being that the quilt was already made and I don't want to make another doing a tutorial was out of the question.  I knew I had seen this as a tutorial somewhere but my mind was drawing a blank.

So I googled "scalloped quilt border tutorial".  Google is my own personal library full of everything I could ever want to know, how did I ever live without it!?  Remember the days of running to the library or book store?  Oh don't get me wrong I still love my books.  And to be honest I think its sad that sometime in the future a book with actual paper pages will become a thing of the past.  Anyway back to the scallops, I found a tutorial using almost the same method.  The only difference was I used a stabilizer to stiffen the scallops because mine would be hanging on the wall.  Wouldn't want floppy eared scallops on the wall now would we?!  Click here to veiw the Riley Blake tutorial, its also a free tutorial for the entire quilt.

Enjoy!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Mini Basket Finished

Hello quilting buddies!  I'm still here plugging along.  There's so much to do that my quilting is taking a backseat.  

The original plan for this basket block was a larger quilt with several of these blocks and an applique border.   I may eventually make a larger quilt using the block design but for now I just want a finished project.  The base of the basket block(red gingham) is as wonky as it looks.  It was a scrap piece of gingham cut on the bias that obviously didn't get enough starch.

The simple little bud bloom has also inspired a couple other design ideas for other quilts.  For now they are just scribbles on paper .  However I did make a few more of the blooms just so I could have hands on playtime with design ideas.

Due to the desperation of needing a finish the quilting was kept simple and done with  my walking foot on the domestic machine.  The backing pictures were horrible, so you'll just have to imagine what the polka dot binding would look like as the backing.

Linking up with 

FreemotionbytheRiver

and

BlossomHeartQuilts

and

QuiltStory

and

IHavetoSay

~ Lea Anne ~

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Sugar Pop Posies

It feels so good to finally have this one finished.  These little quilts aren't any quicker to make than the bigger ones.  Sometimes I think they take longer.  The little squares finish at a half inch and the quilt is 22" square.  The quilting was done on my domestic machine.  

You can read more about the making of this quilt here, here and here.

This picture below shows the real colors.  LOVE IT!   Coming up with a name was really hard.   So I thought what the heck lets do the Posies again...

Sugar Pop Posies.

Adding my little quilt to a linky over at

 Quilting is more fun than Housework  

MainCrushMonday@CookingupQuilts

MondayMakers@HugabitQuilts

Design Wall Monday@PatchworkTimes

Hop on over for inspiration and to share your projects.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Itty Bitty Change

Does it surprise you that I've made a few changes to my little quilt plan?  I didn't think so.  Earlier in the week I attached a white border to the center panel of my itty bitty block. you can see it here.  It wasn't tickling my fancy.  A few quick flicks with the seam ripper and a new design idea and TADA....Oh so cute!   

I often design on the fly, not really knowing how a quilt will look.  A general idea is born, then I just let the creativity and playing take over.  This type of designing can produce a few more scraps than having a set in stone plan.   It can also produce many UFO's and WIP's .    I couldn't remember when I started this little project so I did a little digging through my blog and found the original post in August of last year.    Hey that's not too bad!  Not even a year has passed.

Here's sneak peek at the quilting.  I'm at the halfway point.  I'll see you in a day or two for the big reveal of my Itty Bitty Quilt.

Need more inspiration before then?  Well I've just what you need.  Hop on over to these Linky Parties, there's always ton's of it just a click away.

Confessions of a fabric Addict

Richard and Tanya Quilts

A Quilting Readers Garden

~ Lea Anne ~

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Mini Scraps

How many of you are like me and struggle with throwing away the smallest of  fabric scraps?  Well if we save them we must use them at some point.  This project was started about a year ago.  Occasionally I take it out and admire my tiny little 4 patches that need to be squared up to 1.5".  That's a pretty difficult task with just about any ruler in my collection. 

My smallest ruler is 4" x 4", it works but seemed to take forever, trimming two sides at a time then re-positioning the template for the other two sides.  Matching the ruler lines to the seam on the blocks is harder than you think, not much room for error.  I decided after about 20 blocks to make my own 1.5" square up ruler from Plexi-glass.  I've shared my template making in the past here and here.  One thing I get asked is "How do you keep the black lines on them."  Well I've tried several methods, tape, clear fingernail polish and nothing at all.  But scoring the lines with a razor knife and using a sharpy marker to fill the score lines works the best.   If your sharpy marks are outside the line no worries, just rub them with your thumb and the excess comes off.

To keep the template from slipping I sprayed the back with temporary quilt basting spray.  This works great!  When the glue gets "unsticky" and filled with lint,  just run it under water and wipe off the lint, like magic the glue is still there and sticky. (This makes me wonder how well it actually washes out of a quilt)  I trimmed all of my 4 patches without needing to reapply the basting spray.  When I tried to wash the glue off  my template with Dawn Dish washing liquid it wouldn't come off with out using a Magic Eraser.  No more spray glue in my quilts that's for sure!  At least not the Dritz brand.

I took the picture below because I wanted to stop working and move on to something else.

But if I quit now I'll need to lay out all of these 4 patches again....well darn, just keep plugging along.

Whew!  The center is complete! I'll tackle the borders tomorrow.

I'll be linking this post to the following linky parties.  Hop on over, be inspired, and link up too!

Design Wall Monday@PatchworkTimes

MainCrushMonday@CookingupQuilts

MondayMakers@HugabitQuilts

LinkyTueday@FreemotionbytheRiver

FabricTuesday@QuiltStory

TipsandTutorials@LatenightQuilter

SewCute@BlossomheartQuilts

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Mini Love Finish

 Have you ever started a project thinking it was going to be a quicky and then it takes much longer?  Well that's exactly what happened.  How could it take two days to finish a 12 x 17 wall hanging?!  Geeesh!  It all started by wanting to use up the scraps from the Amour de Cerise quilt and Simply Sweet table topper.

I surfed the internet for ideas and came up with a plan.  My little mini will include ideas from 3 different quilt designs.  I grabbed my favorite designing tools and with a little help from my printer for the letters ... TADA!

There's a quilt on the frame so I had to quilt this on my regular sewing machine.  And remember my walking foot broke last week.  Well what's a girl to do but take a free motion refresher course.  Oh boy...it's so much easier on the quilt frame.  Funny how quickly our muscles forget.   I had some tension issues and my soft flowing feathers were more like squiggles.  

Two days and two needle breaks later we have a finish!  I wanted to use every last piece of the L'Amour Charm pack so I made a nine patch from the scraps then cut it as if I were going to do a disappearing nine patch and used it for the bottom strip.  There's a few fabrics from my stash, but they all play pretty well together.   Now to give her a name, any suggestions?

I love white quilt backs.   Shows off everything, the good and the bad.   Even though the quilting is less than perfect I still love it.  Now that I've blown the dust of my FM on the DM I might try to do a few more minis this year.  

Linking up with BlossomHeartquilts for Sew Cute Tuesday

~ Lea Anne ~

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A "Little" addiction

Good Monday Morning!  Yes it is!  Making littles can brighten any day.  They make a gal feel like she's accomplished something huge.  It's almost an addiction, like I need another one of those.  When I saw this back in February I knew it was going to the top of the must make list.  And the best thing about it was....Its a FREEBIE!  You can find over at The Crafty Quilter.  The pattern and tute is for a free pillow.  I just widen my top and bottom border to make it a rectangle instead of a square.   Make sure you take a walk around Julie's blog tons of quilty inspirations.  

And yes the embroidery pattern is part of the free pattern.  There's no tutorial for the embroidery.  So if you're new to embroidery Mary over at Needle N Thread has the best site for hand embroidery tutorials, patterns, and videos.  

After ripping out a couple of letters I decided to let any imperfections stay.  I think my favorite part of the embroidery was the french knots, all 6 strands of floss!

Looks good from the galloping horse so its great!

A piece of scrap from one of Bonnie and Camille's lines of fabric, fussy cut and made the cutest little window. (it would be even cuter withouth the stray thread)

 For some reason I had issues putting together the heart.  It wasn't because the instructions were bad it was because I was bad.  Finally after my 3rd mistake in the heart I decided to leave it, I needed the rest of the red fabric for the binding.  After attaching the binding I had a one inch strip left....cutting it close!

 More Bonnie and Camille fussy cutting for the chimney.  

 One fat quarter was just the right size for the backing.  

Its a keeper!  

Don't forget today is also Design wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.  

~ Lea Anne ~

http://www.theribbonretreat.com/blog/schoolhouse-table-runner-tutorial.html

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