It's a Mini Quilt Along - Fire and Rain

Hi all! My name is Brooke Johnsen and I blog at Pitter Putter Stitch.

My mom tried teaching me to sew when I was 10 and I took a sewing class in high school. After getting married, I had all these ideas for projects that I wanted to make, but not really knowing what I was doing, I'd go to my mom for help and she'd pretty much finish each project for me. (Thanks, Mom!) It wasn't until the fall of 2009 that I started thinking seriously about buying a new sewing machine and learning how to quilt. I had happened upon Allison's blog, Cluck Cluck Sew, and seeing her quilts totally made me want to learn how to make things like that. Before then, I could see a quilt and appreciate the time that it must have taken to make, but the colors and motifs didn't appeal to me. I love modern design and bright colors. My mom had given me her old White sewing machine, which worked great, but it wasn't really made for quilting. So, I bought a cheap Singer machine and set out to learn all I could about quilting. Early in 2010, I joined the Modern Quilt Guild and attended my first guild meeting with the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild in March of that year. The rest, as they say, is history.

Over the last three years, I've learned so much about quilting and about myself as a quilter. I now sew on a Babylock Symphony, which I love, and have found myself wanting to stretch and try new things. I have a huge bucket list of quilts to make and start more projects than I have time for with three little kids and a full-time job, but I love this hobby and I know I will be a quilter for life.

Alright, enough about me. I'm excited to show you the project I made from Konda's Simply Charming Minis book - an autumn Fire and Rain pillow. I don't have a dedicated sewing space, which means no place to hang mini quilts. So, I opted to turn this mini into a pillow to use on my couch this fall.

I LOVE this design! When Konda asked me which project I'd like to make, this one was my first choice and I crossed my fingers, hoping that no one else had picked it. I've made several projects out of half-square triangles in the past, but with Konda's instructions, even a beginner would have no problem sewing these puppies up.

I looked through my stash and pulled an assortment of green, orange, and yellow fabrics of varying values to make the zig zags on the front. For the envelope back, I used Alexander Henry's Farmdale Crosshatch in Green.

I straight-line quilted the pillow about 1/2" apart, following the zig zag lines.

I decided against putting a binding on this pillow and instead just sewed the front and backing pieces right sides together, turned right side out and stuffed with a 20" feather pillow form from Ikea (my favorite pillow form).

Now, hurry up and get started on your Fire and Rain mini quilt or pillow. This is such a great design and lends itself to all sorts of colors!

Day One of the Simply Mini Quilt Along

Hi, I'm Pam Lincoln and you can find me over at Mama Spark's World. I have been quilting for about 7 years now and am as addicted now as I was when I made my first quilt!  I am a scientist by day and quilt every spare minute I can. I have been married for 29 years to my husband, Chris.  We have three wonderful children, 2 daughters and a son.  We have one dog and are owned by 5 cats. Life is full and busy at our house but there is always time for quilting!  I have a great project coming out on Friday so be sure to stop over and check out my blog then!

 I have made so many friends in blogland and Konda was one of them. I actually got to meet her 2 years ago at spring market.  It was an amazing trip and I made a lot of new friends, including Konda.

 I am so thrilled that Konda asked me to be a part of the Simply Mini Quilt Along.  When she asked us to choose a quilt I knew exactly which one I wanted to try first so that's the one I chose.  They are all fabulous but this one just called my name.

That's the one. Mosaic.  Isn't it adorable??  I love all that negative space too.  So much space to practice your quilting!  I couldn't decide which fabrics to use.  Should I do a light background or dark.  Decisions, decisions.  I was working on another project and had some of that charm pack left over, calling my name so that's what I went with.

It always seems to go so much quicker once you choose your fabrics doesn't it?  Konda's directions to make this little gem were so easy.  I actually cut everything and laid the whole thing out on my cutting board (of course I forgot to take a picture of that!)  No large design wall necessary, this is the beauty of making a mini.  The entire layout fits on your cutting mat!  Perfect!!

I wanted to practice my straight line quilting and using striped fabric just seemed to lend itself to that.
I made lots of lines, unevenly spaced and in different directions.  I hope you like mine and I can't wait to see your versions of this little beauty too!

I  Just LOVE how this turned out!!  Here is a quick pic of the back where you can see the quilting even better!  Notice that little yellow PoP on the border?  Love it!

What fabrics will you choose for your Mosaic?  Are you playing along?  You can get the details and sign up over here.  There are going to be prizes for participating too!!  Don't forget that if you are playing along you need to post photos of your quilt in the Flickr group.  You can post 2 photos that will be eligible for prizes.  One of your quilt top and one of your finished top.

I hope you enjoyed my version of Mosaic and that you have fun participating in our Simply Mini QAL!  Keep watching Konda's blog for the next mini quilt in the QAL!!

If you get a minute, stop over and visit me at my blog, Mama Spark's World

~XOP~

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