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365: A Swap Between Friends

Back in 2016, you may recall I embarked on a ludicrous project to stitch a block-a-day for a year. I achieved that goal, despite giving birth to Jess half-way through. But I couldn't have achieved it without the huge amount of support from the others who made their quilts in 2016 as well. As a group, we then displayed our finished quilts at Festival of Quilts in August 2017. We still keep in touch through a Facebook group and I've actually met a few of them in real life! Back in December a mini quilt swap was suggested. I confess I paused, because I'm not really into swaps anymore, and, you know, Josh. But it was confirmed there was no pressure at all, so I joined in - and a swap between friends is far less risky that a swap between randoms. And you know what? I didn't leave it to the last minute to make my mini quilt. I'm proud of myself. I selected the geometric sewing machine pattern by @quietplay, and obviously stitched it up in a rainbow.



Sadly that pattern is only 16" square, and I needed 20" minimum (though I don't think the rules were strict in hindsight). So I added a 2" border. There's already negative space built into the 16" block, so with the borders as well, I knew I needed to add something. I'd planned a bit of embroidery - maybe "Sew Happy", but with all that space, it needed to be bigger. I went for "May all your bobbins be full."

I embroidered it in colours to match the area of the piecing it was close to. At this point I was embroidering through the front fabric and the wadding. Once complete, I added the backing (a quirky cactus print, which I failed to photograph), and then quilted vertical straight lines 1" apart.

I'd not long finished my Ice Cream Soda quilt with the running stitch binding, so decided to do the same. I used the white fabric I'd used for the rest of the quilt background, then added perle running stitch in colours to match the block. I was pretty pleased with it!


I was less well-organised about a little extra to go in the parcel... I left that to the last minute, partly because I couldn't decide what to make - I knew I wanted to send a zippy pouch, but was stuck for which fabric, whether I should piece something, embroider something.... And then a lovely order of fabrics arrived from Lovely Jubbly Fabrics. I'd not bought from them before, but they had Pinkerville (Tula Pink's latest collection) at a good price and I needed a top up! I added a few random fat quarters from their sale section too, including a beautiful peach/coral/pink/grey moth print.


When the package arrived, I fell in love with that print. I also tripped over a pattern for some little foundation pieced moths by @lillyellasstitchery. A match made in heaven. Even more so as I was able to order some more of the moths (and some in a second colour way too) to replenish my supply. I made up a little foundation pieced moth and used the moth fabric for the reverse of the pouch, with some Riley Blake Blossom as the lining. I might just like the pouch more than the mini!



As more of the moth fabric wings its way to me, I have been developing a plan for making my own, much larger, pouch with it and the moth patterns... so watch this space for that finish! It might even be in the next quarter!

The mini quilt was a Finish Along finish. You can find my original list here (no. 22)!

finishalong logo 125px

Comments

Oh! That mini quilt is lovely! And, "May your bobbins be full" is a lovely (and slightly snarky in the best way) sentiment. Your swap partner is very lucky. I'll bet it was a bit hard to send this off! Congratulations on your finish!

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