February's Mini Quilt

Just in time for Valentine's Day, this little mostly red quilt is a finish.  It is the first in my little series Pieced From Lois's Scraps.  Last year one of our ministry members began bringing in baggies of leftover scraps from a few of her fabulous traditional quilts.  I challenged the group to take the baggie home, choose one additional fabric and create a small quilt top, then return the leftover fabrics for someone else to take and on and on.  Well, as of now, only one other member of the group has taken on the challenge.  This was the pile of scraps when we began:

My friend Nancy created this little top.  I don't know if she has quilted it yet.

And this is the quilt I made.  A lot of red, but I've always loved red, my favorite color as a child.

With several other quilts in the hand quilting queue, I resorted to machine quilting this one.  I had pressed open all those little nine-patch seams which ruled out ditch quilting, so the best option seemed to be vertical/horizontal cross-hatching through all those blocks.  A couple walking foot stitch options in the borders and I called this one done.

I used one of my favorite feed sacks for the back.  There were only a few in my collection and last year I decided to get them out and begin using them.  I love them for small quilt backs.

Three years ago we rooted a new plant from a supermarket pineapple and it has finally decided to grace us with a flower to brighten this bleak midwinter week.  It's still in bud, but looks promising!

Friends who live off the grid on a nearby mountaintop have grown these successfully in their sunroom for years, even harvesting small pineapples occasionally.  Hope we'll be that lucky in a few weeks/months.

Happy Valentines Day!

Linking up with Wendy's Peacock Party.