Teeny tiny quilt making - it takes just as long!

This was made with 3/4 inch blocks

Ladies and gentlemen, we must take a break at this point while we stop to add another unscheduled project of gigantic importance.  It's a mini quilt with a deadline...


As a heavy voyeur of Instagram (IG), I am constantly flooding my brain with ideas.  Like a rabid squirrel in a mirror tile factory ....I'm thinking...oh- got to make that, oooh - I love that..really need to make one of those, arghh - look at how cute that is...and on it goes.  Just like one of the popular kids, I'm hanging out with my head at the 90 degree tilt studying the world of quilting (and britishshorthair cats, knitters, tattoo artists, some painters, some surfers....I've got a pretty eclectic group of interests).

I was making my morning rounds on the old IG when - bam- there it was.  Make Modern Magazine had a teeny tiny quilt challenge.  What - a challenge of which I was not aware of (well...actually, kind of aware of the challenge just not the deadline)?  Ok yes - I did know about it but what hit my eye was the deadline.... the 20th!!!  And it was morning....  I had 16 hours left to make that quilt!!!  PPffhh  (close your eyes and tilt your head in a dismissive manor while saying that...) - 16 hours - heck I could make a normal size quilt and this is only a tiny one.  Challenge on!

I wanted to go really tiny...

My inspiration really came over the weekend when I was at my Virginia Beach Modern Quilt Guild meeting.  @Megmormel showed off her pineapple collection.  Made with 2.5,  2,  1.5,  1, and 3/4 inch blocks.  Look at that quilt in the center with the key - it's a real quilt!!  Batting and binding and all!  I was mesmerized...   So when I saw all those quilts on IG with the #mmminimini tag....I was really excited to try my hand at this....

I chose a strawberry design that I'd sketched up a few weeks ago (after seeing pineapples everywhere and it was Pungo Strawberry Festival time - I felt it was my civic duty to give a nod to our local produce celebrant).  Jana (Megmormel) said her tiniest was in 3/4 inch blocks so ....I had to use that size.

make tiny blocks - use tiny iron...

Once I got the blocks going I realized I'd need some HST.  Ahem - what???  Yikes... But - disaster averted when I made them via the Magic HST method and cut them down to size.  This method is SUPER easy and I love it.  And the only way to keep your sanity when making a 3/4 inch HST.

squaring up was a necessity...no fudging when it comes to this size

I got down to business....  Starting putting them together.

I soon discovered I needed that third finger - or as some call it, the stiletto.  With blocks so small, I also had to change my throat plate to avoid the dreaded sucking in of the fabric.

You may recall a few posts back where I waxed poetic about my seam ripper/stiletto.  It is a thing of beauty AND might.  In fact, I loved it so much...  I took a woodworking class on how to make them.  

I made this!!!!

I'll be selling them on Etsy - they are truly like jewelry for your sewing needs...  More about those later.  Once I got all the HST blocks sewn together, I played out my design and put that together.  GEEZZ - what tiny little pieces to deal with...

I'm a big believer in ironing the snot out of unruly blocks - and these were no exception.  Like tiny little school yard bullies- they taunted me.

Wait a minute - is this a strawberry or a turnip?

I goofed - and had to do some unseeing, resewing, then found another goof (ok, truth be told, I resewed it wrong....put it back like it was..ugh) and then got it all fixed.  I am not much of a thread snipper till the end but this became a hairy little beast really fast - so I had to break from tradition and snip a bit.

Hairy dog or quilt block?

I was so close....  This probably took me two hours from start to finish.  Longer than I thought it would take (why would I think that??) but not crazy long.  It was coming together so nicely.

I removed that bottom row - too turnipy for me

I added 2 inch borders (for my sanity)

Look at that tiny bee!!  I was so happy it was fairly visible and recognizable

On to the quilting.  I stitched in the ditch in green and red and cross hatched in green.

I don't hate hand binding, but I'm not the fan of it I used to be.  I knew this would need hand binding so ...I did.  I cut it down and put on 1.5 inch binding.  My corners were a little disappointing but the bulk really affected them (despite my trying to trim them down).  They turned out...ok. But the overall completed project - WAY TOO CUTE!!!   A lilliputian masterpiece!!

I like to take "glamour shots" of my quilts.  This just made me laugh.

I'm linking up with some GREAT linky parties found on my side bar.  Go check them out.  I am always inspired and in awe of the ideas and reasons people make beautiful things.  What are you making this week?

You can find our guild photos here:  VBMQG

Look at all of the mini's here:   #MMminimini    

Check out @Megmormel's photos here:  Megmormel

Magic HST method here: Magic HST method