Doll Quilt Swap

I managed to finish up my doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 12 on Flickr.  I am so thrilled with the results.  It was rather difficult to send it off after all that work!

I have always maintained that I hate foundation paper piecing, but I thought that I would try it again with some special paper.  I found that the paper made a good difference, and I think that my machine being serviced and the tension being so much better helped out a great deal as well.

I designed this quilt on EQ6 and printed out 5 papers.  Then I grabbed my test fabrics and tried it out.  It worked quite well and came together just as I had hoped.  I dove in with my chosen fabrics for the swap and made up the blocks over 2 weeks or so.  I think it took me about 1.5 hours for each block.

Then I still had to take all the paper off - ugh!  I still hate that part of paper piecing, although my pointy tweezers helped me out in some tricky spots.  After basting the layers together, I decided to hand quilt it with some matching red embroidery floss.  I think that the design pops!  I also added in some green quilting, kinda in the ditch to secure the outer part of the quilt.

I hope my partner loves it.  I expect that she will get it sometime this week.  She doesn't know this is coming from me, so hopefully it will be a lovely surprise.

I am still waiting to receive a little quilt, but I have no idea which one will be mine.  There are some absolute stunners in the photo pool!

xo Nicole

A New Swap

I joined the Doll Quilt 12 swap on Flickr last month.  I'm going to make a little quilt for a secret partner for whom I get some information about, but she has no idea that I'm making a quilt for her.  In return, I will be getting a great little quilt from someone else.  We have some specific rules to follow, like it must have at least 6 pieced blocks and one of them must be a churn dash, New York beauty, log cabin, drunkard's path or flying geese.  It is also required to have a solid in it, but not white or any derivative of white.

I participated in round 11 last summer and it was so awesome!

This is my inspiration mosaic.  I made it up to let my partner know what kind of things I would love in a mini quilt.  Check out my Flickr photostream for the credits of these pictures.

These are some possible fabrics that I put together last night for the quilt that I will make for my partner.  I'm not 100% sure that they will be the best, but I'm going to try them out.  I also have made it my personal goal to include a New York beauty block in my quilt.  I have never made one and feel a bit intimidated by them.  This is a great opportunity to conquer my fear!  I sketched out some ideas on paper and in EQ6 last night.  I'll have to think on it a little more before I decide what exactly to do.  I have until April 5 to send it out, but I hope to finish it up by March 29.

Its so awesome to see what everyone else is up to in the group.  That's one of the most fun things about being in a swap.  There are some super talented people in our group!

I'd love to know what is inspiring you right now!

xo Nicole

Beach Huts

I recently participated in a Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr. This is the first time that I have participated in this swap. Basically I get a secret partner and make her a mini quilt and in return, someone else makes me a mini quilt in secret. It is fun to find out information about what your partner likes and would want, and then make the perfect quilt for her.

The rules are fairly simple. It had to be between 9"x9" and 18"x18". It needed to have a least six pieced blocks and be a miniature version of a bed quilt, ie. no art quilts. And you have to send it on time, or you are not allowed to participate in future rounds.

I started out making something with a colour palette that I hadn't used before, but it just didn't seem to be calling out to be sent to my partner. So I tried again. I came up with this idea of using lots of fun, bright scraps and making beach huts. My partner lives in Florida, so I thought this would be perfect. I added a fun rainbow scrappy border and hand-quilted it with a variegated thread. I haven't really hand-quilted before, so it's a little puffy. I think that next time I would use a hoop to keep things a little more flat. It's not perfect, but I really like it and my partner loved it too! I sent her some scraps and a little notebook for extras. She received it last week. (I am still waiting for my little package to arrive!)

xo Nicole