Wednesday, January 22, 2020

January Mini or There's More Than One Red Holiday!

As you might recall last November I finally finished our very first Christmas quilt,
and every one of those 30 stars had eight flippy points, translating to 240 leftover tiny triangle squares!

So, what to do but start stitching some of them together.  January seems to be a clean-out month for a few of the swiffer boxes of scraps that are underfoot, littering piling up in every spare spot on shelves, under tables, etc.  And so was born this little table topper, just in time for the next red holiday in mid-February.


At just a bit over 13 inches square this is one of my smallest minis, other than a few mug rugs and potholders.  Simply machine quilted in the ditch with a wavy machine stitch in the border, it finished up fairly quickly.  And the bonus being I got to use a few more hoarded scrappy strips of my vintage Quaker Reds for the borders.  There are just a few small bits left now for another scrappy project.

I love the back as much as the front of this little quilt, a leftover piece from a fat quarter of a 2009 In the Beginning print by Jason Yenter.
Especially this little scenic vignette:

So, this used up 36 of the 240 triangle squares - guess what's coming up for February!

After reading Wendy's (The Constant Quilter) and Cynthia's (Wabi-sabi Quilts) posts earlier today about their tree blocks for Australian fire victims, I was inspired to create one to send along.  Since the blocks are being requested by the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild in New South Wales, I attempted to make something a bit ad hoc and improv, or at least a reasonable facsimile!  Here's the block I'll be sending along in a few days:

Since modern really isn't my forte, and I was working with fairly narrow background strips, the piecing got wild and wooly toward the end, and all the white edges are on bias.  They've been stay-stitched to keep everything in place, and after starching and giving it a final press amazingly everything laid flat and square. There's a dark strip of green print at the bottom which may or may not be visible in the photo depending on your monitor as the photo was taken after dark.   I may try again tomorrow and see if I can improve the improv in a second block.

If you are interested in joining in and making a tree block for this cause, more information can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/WollongongModernQuiltGuild/.

Linking with Wendy's Peacock Party, and I'll also link with Wendy at The Constant Quilter when she posts her monthly mini round-up next week.

14 comments:

Needled Mom said...

The little red mini is so sweet and the backing is one of my favorite fabrics. I have some that I am hoarding. Love your little tree, bias and all!

Janet O. said...

It is a wonderful Christmas quilt, and your sweet mini was a perfect way to use up some of those bonus triangles. Great backing fabric!
Good for you, doing an improve tree. Nice fabric for the trunk. :)

Barb said...

Your mini is so sweet and the backing is charming!
What a wonderful Christmas Quilt.
Yay for making a tree block for Australia I love the liberated nature of it. Thanks for joining in.

Julierose said...

Loving that mini--and I also like J. Yenter's Christmas scenes a lot...hugs, Julierose

Debbie said...

Your new mini---Patience Endurance, I do think! That is a lot of tiny triangles. It looks great and I also love that backing fabric. And wow that improv piece does look good too.

Hill Top Post said...

I like your approach... just start stitching! I love the tiny triangles stitched together. Your story reminds me a bit of Grace Snyder's "Flower Basket Petit Point" which contains 85,000 one-inch blocks. (I have been reading her book, "No Time On My Hands.") The backing fabric is wonderful. How special is the little scenic vignette!

Kyle said...

Your Christmas quilt is awesome and the bonus January mini is wonderful. The perfect tiny triangles to make a simple, yet very pretty quilt. I think your improv tree is terrific.

Chantal said...

Love the quilt; adore the mini! It's fun to have something for free. Before Bonnie all these extra little triangles would have been lost. So how big are the HSTs in the mini? Half an inch, 3/4 ? I just love it. ;^)

Quilting Babcia said...

At my age there will be no talk of 85,000 one-inch blocks, lol! Just cutting them would probably put me over the edge! I love the backing fabric too, in fact it might just be my favorite part of the mini.

Cynthia@wabi-sabi-quilts said...

I think your improv tree is great and love the bits of color in it. Cute mini too - hurray for "red" holidays. I'm almost finished with mine.... the months go by so fast!

QuiltGranma said...

Love what you are doing! That little red mini is inspiring, will have to gather my bonus HST's and get busy one of these days!

Quilting Babcia said...

Thanks! Yes, you will - this was fun to put together, especially since the points actually came out pretty good!

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Fabulous mini as always! And, your tree is fantastic. I am looking forward to seeing some of the finished quilts. Such a tragedy for so many!

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Beautiful! I have made that big quilt - I don't remember what I did with those leftover triangles. If I haven't used them already, they must be somewhere in my sewing room.