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Monday, February 29, 2016

OMG February Goal: Swoon Mini

Down to the wire but it is done and dusted.  I adore it.  This was a squirrel that distracted a few of us this past month when a random comment of loving Camille Roskelley's Swoon quilts and having them on our bucket list led to a small quilt along amongst friends.
New binding technique!!!! Over the MOON with this.  It's "Susie's Magic Binding" and can be found here on the blog and here on YouTube. Thank you Tish!
This is under the Ott lite because the sun set several hours ago...

Knowing I would not get it bound before the sun went down, I had to throw it on the ground to try to get some rays on it to show off the quilting:

I quilted all four blocks the same:  dot to dot that pretty much looks like 1/4" echoes in the diamonds, more dot to dot in the pentagon shapes (some of my favourite designs, Angela Walters of course), and then a swoopy arc design of my own just from point to point that makes kind of a funky star.  I did a ring of beads/pearls behind each centre star.

When I decided to echo 1/4" from the outside of each swoon, I made the decision to ignore the sashing.  I could see two squares on point were formed on the sashing lines and a central cross shape was formed in the very centre of the quilt.  So I decided to put swirls there, and got Tish's yes vote.  It was when I was quilting the centre swirls that I could see half cross shapes at noon, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions if you will, so I did swirls there as well.

I didn't know what I was going to do with the squares on point until I was quilting the swirls in the half cross shapes and it hit me: dot to dot and a string of pearls down the centre to tie the white space behind the stars with the white space between blocks!  Love!  Another example of a quilt talking to me.

I loved how Tish did her mashing down of background on the side edges.  As they say, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" so I used her skinny cursive "L" mashing down between the swirl sections.
the back...outside
and under the Ott-Lite with binding done.
The backing was fabric I'd planned to use on the front in one Swoon block, but it was too large a scale

I was somewhat hampered in getting this done in a timely fashion by life in the form of a most lovely and memorable day and night spent with good friends from New York State.  We walked dogs for a little over 5 km (3 miles) had a delicious lunch at a new-to-us-but-we-will-definitely-return diner, Joseph's Diner in Nokomis, and then stock car races that night at DeSoto Raceway in Bradenton.  Yoga and more life stuff took up the majority of today, while last night I was hindered by Miss Bella of the TournĂ©e du Chat Noir pose ON the top of my machine again...


Here are a few shots of the making of the Mini Swoon.
All the pieces cut and organized; this was the original stripe I'd thought to use for binding
I had a little bit of the binding fabric left from Tish's pillow, so I replaced the originally planned fabric that ended up as backing with it.  Very pleased with the result.
First block done--swoon!
Sewing these tiny pieces was a bit of a challenge.  The smallest ones were 1.5" squares; there are 65 pieces in each 8" finished block!
It didn't help when I got a bit cocky, not paying close attention, and started making HSTs with the 1.5" blocks instead of the 2" ones...Oh well, I now have an adorable 2" unfinished pinwheel that will perhaps become a pincushion!
to rip or not to rip...decided TO rip as the 1/16" off showed if you look closely at the line formed by the red and white contrasting fabrics
Another block done!
I will update this post tomorrow with an outside shot of the bound mini.
Update:
A little interference from the blinds and window panes, but I'll take it.

As I mentioned, I've quilted this month with a few friends, which was so much fun as we talked about where we were over the past four weeks, and cheered each other on.  Tish was a great motivator as she got hers done first.  Cindy was up against some insurmountable odds, but like the little train that could, she DID! Each one of our Swoon Minis is intricately quilted; no walking foot straight lines for us, no siree!  Make sure you check out their beauties too:  Tish's Swoon Mini and Cindy's Swoon Mini.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  Swoon Mini #170 by Camille Roskelley
Size: 19.5" square
Fabric: Paradiso by Kate Spain scrap, Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller, Modern Background Essentials by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic for Moda, Modern Crush by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit, and a tone on tone polka dot red I do not know the name of from my Parisville Weave quilt, and the corner stones or posts are scraps, an old fabric
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads: pieced with Essential thread from Connecting Threads (no affiliation but I love this thread!); quilted with Essential thread in white, Sulky rayon 40 wt in royal blue, and Sulky Cotton 30 wt in red.

Linking up with OMG at Red Letter Quilts with 3 hours left! And with Let's Bee Social (it's been a while) at Sew Fresh Quilts.


22 comments:

  1. Wow Sandra, what a great quilt. Fantastic choice to ignore the sashing, the quilting really brings it to life. Just fabulous!

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  2. Congrats on chasing down that squirrel, and what an absolutely beautiful squirrel it is!! Wowsers, Sandra, it was looking fantastic before you quilted it and now, seriously drool worthy!:)

    Uh, 65 pieces. . . this one might have just fallen of my list of quilts to make! ;) Headed over to Tish and Cindy's to see their finishes!

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  3. Beautiful Job, I just love how the layout makes the colors pop! Great quilting too.

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  4. All I can say is YES! YES! YES! This turned out over the moon beautiful! I loved the bold rich colors from the first time you pulled them. And the quilting, I could go on and on. I love how you made that background flow. Ignoring those sashings was 100% the way to go. I love how those L's pull your eye toward the swoons and swirls. Every thing is just spot on. I literally squealed when I saw the green and navy binding. It frames it perfectly and demands attention. I feel like I'm trying to convert everyone over to the Susie's way of binding :) It's like a little cult, but a fun one and we will not drink "the cool aid"...just wine. And Miss Bella, she almost looks like she's in slave driver mode. "You WILL finish, my human! And rub my belly" She was determined to over see the finish of this quilt.

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  5. Wow, Sandra! I didn't know a Swoon mini was on my bucket list, but it is now! That is just gorgeous! As I read along on your post, I started to laugh because I just finished a mini where I tried Susie's Magic Binding! I haven't posted about it yet, but plan to soon. It was fun to try something new and I do like how it looks for finishing off the quilt!

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  6. It's awesome and congrats on getting your goal met! And a very nice job on the quilting with no longarm in sight-I'm impressed!!

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  7. Beautiful finish and I am loving that fun binding technique. I know I'll probably have to try it out soon myself. I completely understand trying to decide if something is worth ripping and redoing; I'm glad you did what felt right for yourself. :)

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  8. Love, love, love it! I just showed the photos to a lady staying near me. She's entering a competition with a quilt she's working on down here. She was mucho impressed with your free motion! Loved seeing you guys :)

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  9. Wow, from your non quilting sister omg wow! Very beautiful quilting, not that I am in any position to pass judgement lol. Who knew all those colours would meld so beautifully? It reminds me of a very old quilt, just the kind of subdued look of the colours.
    Oh Bella ❤

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  10. This is so cool and the quilting is seriously gorgeous.

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  11. Beautiful little Swoon quilt!! Love the quilting too - fun to see the different quilting patterns linked up for this quilt this month!!

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  12. I absolutely love the quilting...it puts mine to shame. Well done Sandra. I am so glad to have been apart of the swoon month.

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  13. I really like the fabric you used in your mini Swoon Sandra. The quilting of course is amazing.

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  14. Lovely finish and what great quilting. I love the swoon block but think I will stick to the larger size-11/2 inch pieces-No Thanks.

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  15. How fun! I am working on my Swoon blocks this month too. But they are not as cute as yours!

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  16. Yours turned out beautiful! I love your quilting and the binding is perfect. I've never made a mini swoon (or any swoon for that matter)! If I did, it would be the mini! How fun that the four of you took this challenge on together! That's what friends are for!

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  17. Great job. I really like the quilting. Congrats!

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  18. Awesome! Love the detailed quilting on the smaller blocks.

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  19. It's just beautiful, and very inspiring!

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  20. Super fun quilting--the backing is very cool too!

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  21. Beautiful mini and wonderful quilting!

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