Friday, March 18, 2016

Oxymoron: A Mini Mini

This was one of my goals for 2016, to do a mini swap.  Anja of Anja Quilts offered to do a mini swap with me anytime, and we decided to do a mini mini.  The criteria was to be around 4-5" a side.  I wanted to do something modern for Anja, and it had to have orange in it, her favourite colour. I had a brainwave to do a mini mini plus quilt!  Hence the name "Oxymoron"!  Get it?!

English teacher hat on: an oxymoron is a figure of speech where two opposing ideas or words are side by side in a phrase, like "friendly fire" or "soft rock".  When I thought of a Plus quilt, obviously the plus sign is what it is.  However, think plus size, not just clothing but anything else.  The opposite: mini, and you have "Oxymoron."  :-)
The squares finish at 1", and the bars are 3X1".  I used Moda Grunge (Radiance orange scraps and a purple), Zen Chic Modern Background Essentials, and a few other scraps.

Finished flimsy 5.5" square
 So cute!  So glad (have I said it often enough?!) I brought all my scraps here with me this year.

Quilting...
Pulled out the Sulky metallics
Did some echoes and dot to dot, which, sadly, the binding cuts off a bit.

Mini Mini complete!
Perched in one of our bromeliads to try to capture the shimmer of the Sulky Holoshimmer thread.  I read this past week on someone's blog that it is next to impossible to properly show the beautiful glitter of the metallic threads.
Close-up to show the pebbling done in a purple variegated thread

I did some matchstick quilting in the white corner.
The sun's rays were low in the sky and in real life hit the mini perfectly to show off the qulitng
I used Yvonne's binding a mini tutorial with excellent results.  Here is a great tip:  sew the binding around three sides of the quilt, stopping before the corners so you have two corners not sewn down.  In larger quilts, I usually leave at least a 6" tail at the beginning and have at least that at the end of the binding strip, and leave about 12-15" unsewn on the last side of the quilt, so I have lots of room to sew them at the 45.  You don't have that here!  So leaving the two corners and one entire side unsewn gives you plenty of "tails" of binding to work with.  Pin or finger-match the binding to the last side, folding the ends to meet up parallel to each other (I found one doesn't always have room for the 45-degree angle I always use).  Finger-press or gently press with an iron (there again that mini iron I got from Craftsy is perfect to use with these little guys).  Here I was using it with the Rowan tote bag I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=1074126&b=253536&m=29190&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Ecraftsy%2Ecom%2Fsupplies%2Fsteamfast%2Dtravel%2Dsteam%2Diron%2F9583

Anyhow, sew on that pressed line, RST and trim the ends.  Then finish sewing the binding down.  Don't you love that Moda Grunge in purple? It might become the binding on Aidan's Radiance quilt.

Threads used on that gorgeous plum Grunge
Nearly forgot to show you the back!
All FMQ except for the echo in the plus which was done with a walking foot
Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  original design
Size: 5.5" square
Fabric: scraps of Moda Grunge, Zen Chic for Moda, and stash scraps
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads: pieced with Mettler; quilted with Sulky Holoshimmer 145-6054 and 145-6011 and YLI 244-30-20V variegated plum

And now!  Yesterday I finally got (what is it with the postal service these days, in Canada and in the US?  Bark!) Anja's mini!
In the Schefflera, in the shade
I LOVE it!!  I am just tickled, because it is not square!!  Last weekend I finished another mini for someone else which I ended up making round, thinking aha!  Thinking outside the box!  Let me tell you that was hard: to cut it down to a round shape... and a few days later I get a triangle!  My favourite colour is blue, I cannot get enough of bodies of water, and her choice of blue fabric immediately puts me in mind of water and blue skies.  Mmm!
In the sun, same spot as I photgraphed hers a few weeks prior
Didn't she do a fabulous job on binding a triangle?  Love the backing fabric.

It's a Jaybird block she told me, and wow did she hit perfection on all the matching points.
Had to capture that lovely orange (she and Aidan are converting me) against the Florida blue sky and green palm trees
Three is my favourite number.  Three is a powerful, symbolic number, and triangles and pyramids, especially, as I said to Anja, have healing powers.  This is so very perfect for me.  Thank you Anja so much.

I now have 2 minis on my wall! More on this other beauty later.

I can't end without reminding you of the fabulous sale on this weekend at Craftsy (I know, I know, you're hearing it around QBL, and I know, I know, didn't they just have a sale a month ago) but some of the kits and supplies are reduced up to 60% off!  You can treat yourself to fabric, and skip some chocolate at Easter, right? Much healthier. Wink. That mini iron is only $20.99US, and I would not steer you wrong with that particular purchase.  Nor would I on the fabric bundles.  Many of these work out to $4-5/yard, and you find yourself with some gorgeous and unusual prints.  Remember these I showed you over the past few months?
1-yard bundle which grew up, but there is still a TON left, yippee!

Jelly Roll
Fat Quarter Bundles

6" strip of Kaffe glorious Fassett fabric
All these are mine, said in a Gollum-type voice, "Presshhh-ious!" All terrific prices, even with the Canadian not-so-good dollar.   All available, (not these exact bundles, but similar ones) at Craftsy (think Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner--might have snagged some of hers).  Bye for now; please excuse me while I go and, as Brianne, my eldest would say when she is heading to the cosmetics department to buy the must-have-must-have! new Mac Primer, something to the effect of, "I may have blacked out and when I came to, I discovered I had bought 10 yards of fabric."

That's my story now too.  You can join me by clicking the text links or the Craftsy button in the sidebar, and yep, I'm an affiliate, so I do get a commission on sales ;-)  and I thank you!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of A Fabric Addict and TGIFF. which is with Jenn at A Quarter Inch From the Edge.








18 comments:

  1. Oh awwww those are just adorable!!!!! :D
    I LOVE some orange colours, just so rich and beautiful!

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  2. The minis are fabulous! The quilting is heavenly, but you're right metallics are hard to get to show up in photos.

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  3. I've never seen a triangle mini before!! She hit that one out of the park. I just love all that fun quilting you squeezed into the Plus mini mini. And I have to say your pictures are probably the best I've seen at showcasing metallic thread in a piece. It's so pretty to use, why must it be so stubborn in showing itself in pictures?

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  4. I have made some large plus quilts, and now I want to try a mini plus. (Love the oxymoron. It's kind of like jumbo shrimp.) and your other mini is very intriguing. I now want to try something like that with some skinny strings I have...

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  5. All these mini's are great Sandra. I love that you paired purple with the orange in Anja's mini.

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  6. I love the oxymoron of a mini mini plus quilt, that tickles me in all the right ways. And holy cow, a triangle mini mini quilt? Anja outdid herself! I love how she combined blue and orange for you. :)

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  7. Sweet! I confess you had to explain the oxymoron to me; I'm just a moron these days. :D

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  8. You and Anja did each other proud Sandra! Both of these quilts are so cool. As soon as I saw the one you made, before I even read that it was for Anja, I thought of her.
    Maybe you should gear your swapping to fit which country you are in at time of swap, LOL. The between country shipping can be pretty cuckoo at times.

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  9. Very cool. Your quilting is great! I enjoyed visiting and seeing your work!

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  10. I really love all the plus quilts I've seen so a mini mini plus is just icing on the cake! Great colors! Looks like a fun swap!

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  11. Knowing Anja, I know she just loved it! And hers to you....wow!

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  12. I'm so glad that it finally arrived. I love my Oxymoron...even though I didn't get it at first. LOL Now I want to make a plus mini mini. Thanks for swapping!

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  13. I love mini's. I really like the triangle one. Nice work.

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  14. Cuteness all around with those mini's and fabric to boot!!

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  15. Gotta love a good oxymoron. Military intelligence used to be a fav of mine! And mini minis. Such fun. I'll be seeing yours in person when I head over to Anja's for a Sew Day tomorrow!

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  16. Love your orange mini plus quilt. I love the color orange. It is the color of sunshine and happiness, bright flowers, sweet drinks and juicy fruits. It is festive and auspicious. It is the color of rich curries and fatty salmon steaks. Purple is tricky to work with. I am not sure whether to lump it with the cool (blue-greens) or the warm (pink-fuchsias) colors. It works well with orange, though and a touch of green adds pizzaz. Binding tiny things can be tricky. I have used the backing (cut larger than the front) folded on to the front as a pseudo-binding. I also like Amanda Jean Nyberg's tutorial on binding tiny things - http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-bind-tiny-things.html
    I am looking forward to your next post...as usual.
    Hugs,
    Preeti.
    http://sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com

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  17. Man, I don't think I could make anything smaller than 5", but that's the challenge and fun, right? All of the mini's here are adorable. Who would've thought to do a triangle?? Well, who but Anja? :) So fun!

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