My Magnificent Mini

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, Hobbs, and AccuQuilt.

Welcome! The Island Batik Ambassador assignment for February is to make Magnificent Minis. Our mini quilts must be 24” x 24” or smaller using any technique and any Island Batik fabrics except our “surprise” fabrics. (You won't get to see those until August!) The timing for this challenge was perfect because I participated in the Modern Quilt Guild mini quilt swap and needed to have my swap mini quilt finished before leaving for QuiltCon last Wednesday, February 20. (Now I may have been handing stitching the binding on the flight to Nashville, but it was done by the time I got there!)

For the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG) mini swap, we are paired up with another MQG member and made mini quilts for one another. If you check out the hashtag #makeaminimakeafriend on Instagram, you can see some of the amazing mini quilts made and swapped either in person at QuiltCon or through the mail. My swap partner, Donna, lives in Maine and is a member of the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild. She loves the coasts and forests of Maine, and I decided to make a beach-themed mini quilt for her. 

I used my AccuQuilt Go! and the 2" finished half square triangle die (#55712, die 5 in the 8-inch Qube) to make a scrappy half square triangle heart using various turquoise and aqua Island Batik fabrics. For the background, I used a combination of 4" HSTs and quarter square triangles (QSTs). I randomly pieced bright fabric scraps on some of the corners of the HSTs and QSTs to resemble beach glass in the sand.

The quilting is simple straight-line quilting on my domestic sewing machine (Bernina Activa 230) using a walking foot and a HandiGadgets HQ Straight Edge Ruler. This was my first time doing any kind of ruler work, and I am pretty pleased with the results. I think the angular quilting mimics the broken glass theme in the piecing. Hobbs is a sponsor of the IB Ambassador program, and I used the Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Bleached Cotton Blend.

This was my first time attending QuiltCon, and my partner and I were able to swap mini quilts in person.

I love the mini quilt Donna made me. You can tell when someone really takes your likes and dislikes into consideration when making you something. My mini has all of my favorites...Grunge, text, bright colors, improv, and half square triangles. QuiltCon and this mini swap were both such wonderful experiences. I can't wait until the next QuiltCon in February 2020. See you in Austin!