Did you enjoy the Whip Up Mini quilts mini quilt-along the past few weeks? Very excited to announce that I have SIX books to giveaway to Whip Up readers. So leave a comment here telling us about your quilting adventures. You have until 25 August to enter. All done – comments are now closed – thank you all for entering – winners will be selected and notified in next 24 hours. Congratulations to Sandra, Maeve, Patti, Queenie, Christina and Lena – you have all been contacted via email.

Here are just a few of the quilts from the book - which is your favourite?

Do you have a copy of the Whip Up Mini Quilts book? Lets make the quilts from the book together. Post them on the whipup flickr group under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Each Friday for 6 weeks [more or less] – I am going to post one of the quilts from the book that I have made – and give you a few tips and ideas to help you make it. + 6 books to give away in that time – Do you want to join in?

And if you don’t yet have a copy of the book but want to join in straight away – there are 2 free Mini Quilt patterns available for download from the Chronicle website + The pattern and templates for Kellie Wulfsohn’s little girl’s applique wallhanging ‘A little birdie told me’ is available at the Woman’s Day website

To see all the quilts featured so far – here is the mini quilts archives

This week I am showing you Lizette Greco’s T-R-E-G-R map. This imaginative mini-quilt is based upon a real 6 year old pirate’s map. Here is my not-yet finished version – I have yet to add in the text.

This quilt is so easily adapted to your own (or your kid’s) design – let your child help and give suggestions and draw little pirate motifs that you can use to personalise this quilt for your own little pirate adventurer.

Below you can see a detail of Lizette’s original quilt.

Have fun making this one – Don’t forget to post your results in the whipup flickr pool – under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Do you have a copy of the Whip Up Mini Quilts book? Lets make the quilts from the book together. Post them on the whipup flickr group under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Each Friday for 6 weeks [more or less] – I am going to post one of the quilts from the book that I have made – and give you a few tips and ideas to help you make it. + 6 books to give away in that time – Do you want to join in?

And if you don’t yet have a copy of the book but want to join in straight away – there are 2 free Mini Quilt patterns available for download from the Chronicle website + The pattern and templates for Kellie Wulfsohn’s little girl’s applique wallhanging ‘A little birdie told me’ is available at the Woman’s Day website

The first week I showcased my version of Lisa Call’s ‘Modern Geometric’ mini quilt, and the second week I showed you how to make my Shibori Sampler. the third week was Crazy Cats – the pattern, instructions and templates for this quilt is available online from the Chronicle Website. And last week I showed you my version of Boo Davis’s‘Two heads are better than one‘

This week its Alexandra Rasmussen’s Blattwerk quilt which I made into a pillow.

There was an error in the instructions which neglected to mention the need to flip the template, so I have explained here how to make the leaves. [Corrections can be found here]

1. To make these leaf motifs you will make five 8×20 inch strip pieced blocks. You can make these strips from any width pieces – recommended is 2inch wide strips and 20 inch long. You will then place your traced template on one side of the strip pieced block and trace and cut it out – then flip the template and cut the opposite shape on the other side of the pieced block of fabric.

2. Then cut the motifs in half lengthwise – point to point – and mix and match the two opposite sides to make your leaf shapes. These are then raw edge appliqued onto your quilt top. At this point I used a little basting spray to hold them in place while stitching. Alexander also recommends using light interfacing on the wrong side of the leaf motifs to stabilise them while sewing and you might also need fray check if you are using fabric that frays excessively.

Have fun making this one – Don’t forget to post your results in the whipup flickr pool – under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Do you have a copy of the Whip Up Mini Quilts book? Lets make the quilts from the book together. Post them on the whipup flickr group under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Here is what we are going to do – each week – say on a friday – for 6 weeks [more or less] – I am going to post one of the quilts from the book that I have made – and give you a few tips and ideas to help you make it. + 6 books to give away in that time – watch out next week for some giveaways. Do you want to join in?

And if you don’t yet have a copy of the book but want to join in straight away – there are 2 free Mini Quilt patterns available for download from the Chronicle website + The pattern and templates for Kellie Wulfsohn’s little girl’s applique wallhanging ‘A little birdie told me’ is available at the Woman’s Day website

The first week I showcased my version of Lisa Call’s ‘Modern Geometric’ mini quilt, and last week I showed you how to make my Shibori Sampler. And last week Crazy Cats was featured – the pattern, instructions and templates for this quilt is available online from the Chronicle Website.

This week I am just going to show you my version of Boo Davis’s ‘Two heads are better than one’. Its a difficult quilt to make and you will need the full instructions and illustrations from the book.

These pair of quilts use small pieces of fabric organised into colours and then chain pieced together. Its very quick to make and the method is not difficult. The difficulty comes with keeping track of where the pieces go – super organisation skills are required.

The quilting is really very easy – just diagonal lines and then it is bound using the one-step binding method. Originally Boo was going to leave it unbound and in fact raw edges and even just the quilt tops framed would be very cool.

Boo Davis also suggests using the loudest ugliest fabrics and colours you can find – and they really do pop from the quilt.

Have fun making this one – Don’t forget to post your results in the whipup flickr pool – under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Do you have a copy of the Whip Up Mini Quilts book? Lets make the quilts from the book together. Post them on the whipup flickr group under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Here is what we are going to do – each week – say on a friday – for 6 weeks [more or less] – I am going to post one of the quilts from the book that I have made – and give you a few tips and ideas to help you make it. + 6 books to give away in that time. Do you want to join in?

And if you don’t yet have a copy of the book but want to join in straight away – there are 2 free Mini Quilt patterns available for download from the Chronicle website + The pattern and templates for Kellie Wulfsohn’s little girl’s applique wallhanging ‘A little birdie told me’ is available at the Woman’s Day website

The first week I showcased my version of Lisa Call’s ‘Modern Geometric’ mini quilt, and last week I showed you how to make my Shibori Sampler.

This week I am going to my version of Jude Hill’s Crazy Cats Mini Quilt – the pattern, instructions and templates for this quilt is available online from the Chronicle Website.

Step 1. Gather your materials – you will need a nice vintage napkin or hand-towel or small cloth of some sort – if you don’t have anything suitable you can use plain cotton fabric. You will need some scraps of fabric for your patchwork squares, felt for the cat faces, muslin to use as foundations for the crazy patchwork squares and embroidery floss + fabric for backing and border.

Step 2. Make your crazy patch squares – you will need 3 of these and they are sewn onto a foundation of muslin or other cotton fabric. These are so fun to make – I co-ordinated my scraps of fabric with the applique design that was already on my found cotton hand-towel.

Step 3. Make your cat faces – cut out the faces using the templates provided and then embroider the faces onto them – I am afraid my faces turned out to look a little angry – mmm…

You will continue to follow the detailed instructions in the free pattern to finish putting this quilt together. I didn’t do as much hand-stitching as Jude did on her original quilt – so mine is plainer. Naturally my daughter has already suggested a fabulous space in her room where I can hang it!

Here is Jude Hill’s Crazy Cat’s mini quilt – gorgeous yes!

Have fun making this one – it really is such a versatile design and if you happen to be talented at hand stitching – there is a lot of room for showing your talents. Don’t forget to post your results in the whipup flickr pool – under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Do you have a copy of the Whip Up Mini Quilts book? Lets make the quilts from the book together. Post them on the whipup flickr group under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Here is what we are going to do – each week – say on a friday – for 6 weeks [oops sorry I missed a week] – I am going to post one of the quilts from the book that I have made – and give you a few tips and ideas to help you make it. At the same time I will be giving away a copy of the book (that’s 6 books to give away). Do you want to join in?

And if you don’t yet have a copy of the book but want to join in straight away – there are 2 free Mini Quilt patterns available for download from the Chronicle website + The pattern and templates for Kellie Wulfsohn’s little girl’s applique wallhanging ‘A little birdie told me’ is available at the Woman’s Day website

Last week I showcased my version of Lisa Call’s ‘Modern Geometric’ mini quilt

This week I am going to show you my pattern from the book and a couple of variations too. Its the Shibori sampler and was so fun to make. In fact it turned out to a bit of a family project and we made lots of versions.

Step 1. Cut your white cotton fabric into squares (you will need 9 for your mini quilt – but it essentially it doesn’t matter how big your sample pieces are – start with 8x8inch squares if you like). Fold the squares into different configerations – use an iron to get crisp fold lines and then hold your folds in place with clamps, pegs, or folder clips. Traditionally these folded fabrics are held firmly between wooden blocks which are kept in place by tightly bound string.

Step 2. Prepare your dye – if you know about fabric dye methods then great – if not then simply purchase fabric dye from your local store and follow the directions carefully – using safety equipment and protecting your surfaces and clothing, eyes and hands (rubber gloves, plastic apron and plastic table cloth come in handy). You can choose to fully immerse your folded fabric bundles, or dip in the edges and sides, you can wet the fabric first with warm water or not. Leave the dye in the fabric for at least 20 minutes before rinsing – but really this bit is the fun experimental part and when it comes time to unwrap your folded fabric packages you will be surprised and addicted. Make a few extras so you have choices when putting your final design together.

Step 3. Rinse and dry and iron your folded squares of fabric and sew then together in a simple 3×3 design – lining up the corners and arranging them how you like. Press the seams as you go then press the entire quilt top. Now use this finished quilt top and cut out a piece of backing and binding the same size. There is no binding required – instead you are going to use the ‘bagging out’ method otherwise known as the ‘pillowcase method’ of binding.

Step 4. Place your quilt top and backing RIGHT sides facing each other, then place your batting on top. Sew around the edges of all three layers (1/4-1/2 inch seam), leaving a 5 inch gap on one side. Put your hand into the gap between the quilt top and back and turn it right side out. Fold the inside corner seams to create neat corners. The close up the gap with a hemming hand stitch. Now there is some basic hand quilting involved next – use a quilting hoop and a hand quilting needle, thread and thimble to run a line of running stitches around the perimeter and then using an assortment of cups and bowls and some tailors chalk, trace circle shapes onto your quilt design, which you will then hand quilt around. To finish hand wash and dry. You may like to hang up your mini quilt or make a few more to use as table mats.

VARIATION:
Here I have used plain white strips of fabric (available as a Moda jelly roll) and then sewn them together once I dyed the strips. Here I used a pole wrap method – wrapping the fabric around a pole and then tying tightly with string before dying. I like the storm like effect. I then quilting them on my machine with a messy scribble quilting design – echoing the shibori string lines.

Have fun making this one – or one of the other quilts from the book. Don’t forget to post your results in the whipup flickr pool – under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”. Post your finished mini quilt or progress report and then link here in the comments – and I will draw a winner.

Do you have a copy of the Whip Up Mini Quilts book? Lets make the quilts from the book together. Post them on the whipup flickr group under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”.

Here is what we are going to do – each week – say on a friday – for 6 weeks – I am going to post one of the quilts from the book that I have made – and give you a few tips and ideas to help you make it. At the same time I will be giving away a copy of the book (that’s 6 books to give away). Do you want to join in?

And if you don’t yet have a copy of the book but want to join in straight away – there are 2 free Mini Quilt patterns available for download from the Chronicle website

My version of Lisa Call’s ‘Modern Geometric’

Lisa Call’s ‘Modern Geometric’ Quilt is totally fun to make. It was the first from the book I made simply because I really wanted to give this technique a try. Its made using improvisational piecing. Lisa recommends cutting the strips with a rotary cutter – but I wanted a more irregular look so I cut the pieces freehand with scissors. It went together really quickly, the main thing is to sew then trim, then sew, then trim again.

In the pattern you are encouraged to cut the thin strips first and lay them out on top of your larger square of background fabric. Then step back from the design, checking for proportion – asymmetry is best for this design. Then mark with tailor’s chalk where your lines are to be cut. Cut your background into 4 main sections and sew your strips onto these sides. Adding in optional color changes as desired. Then sew it all back up together again – and trim.

It is finished with straight line quilting – I loved doing this – the quilting lines are quite close together but because its such a small quilt this was fun rather than arduous. I recommend using a ‘walking foot’ on your sewing machine. Also (because I like a short cut) instead of pin basting I used basting spray glue and it worked perfectly.

The pattern recommends facing your quilt rather than binding it in the regular way – this keeps that clean modern look of the quilt front. Facing a quilt is just as easy as binding – you just need to pull the binding all the way to the back so the seam line ends up on the edge of the quilt. You will need to hand sew it to the back. I had so much fun that I had to make 2 and am planning on more. They look so lovely grouped together on my family room wall.

Here is Lisa Call’s original quilt from the book:

Have fun making this one – or one of the other quilts from the book. Don’t forget to post your results in the whipup flickr pool – under the tag “Whip up mini quilts”. You have one week to post your finished mini quilt or progress report and then link here in the comments – and I will draw a winner.

Yesterday the haystack needle hosted me on the second to last stop on the blog tour – find out how to hang and look after your mini quilts. + win a copy of my book.

[Image: this is Sarah Steedman's Warbler quilt]

The blog tour continues: [with lots of chances to win a copy]

June 1 - Craftzine – essential quilting tools
June 2 - Crafty Pod – book review + giveaway
June 3 - Chronicle Books – Behind the making of the book
June 4 – Indie Fixx – Designing your own mini-quilts
June 7 – Craft Sanity – Piped binding tutorial
June 8 – Hand Made by Alissa chatting about mini quilts
June 9 – My Love for You Background on Mini Quilts
June 10 - Film in the Fridge review and chat about minis
June 11 - The Haystack Needle Hanging and looking after mini quilts
June 12 – West Coast Crafty

Film in the fridge has reviewed my book on the blog tour - lovely things she has said and is giving away a copy too.

[picture of the circus quilt by Alix McAlister]

The blog tour continues: [with lots of chances to win a copy]

June 1 - Craftzine – essential quilting tools
June 2 - Crafty Pod – book review + giveaway
June 3 - Chronicle Books – Behind the making of the book
June 4 – Indie Fixx – Designing your own mini-quilts
June 7 – Craft Sanity – Piped binding tutorial
June 8 – Hand Made by Alissa chatting about mini quilts
June 9 – My Love for You Background on Mini Quilts
June 10 - Film in the Fridge review
June 11 - The Haystack Needle Decorating with mini quilts
June 12 – West Coast Crafty

I have a new post up all about the history and popularity of mini quilts – head on over to my love for you to see all the lovely pics and to win a copy too.

[picture of quilt wall from whip up mini quilts book]

The blog tour continues: [with lots of chances to win a copy]

June 1 - Craftzine – essential quilting tools
June 2 - Crafty Pod – book review + giveaway
June 3 - Chronicle Books – Behind the making of the book
June 4 – Indie Fixx – Designing your own mini-quilts
June 7 – Craft Sanity – Piped binding tutorial
June 8 – Hand Made by Alissa chatting about mini quilts
June 9 – My Love for You Background on Mini Quilts
June 10 - Film in the Fridge
June 11 - The Haystack Needle Decorating with mini quilts
June 12 – West Coast Crafty