Make a Mini Make a Friend - 2023

This year I joined in with the Modern Quilt Guild mini quilt swap, it's the 2nd time I've participated, and it did not disappoint! This is a fun swap and I enjoyed creating something for my partner @margaretfleisher. I wanted to incorporate improv curves, and combined that with some paper piecing too. 

I started with some doodles, playing with the arrow shapes and then drew them out so they could be paper pieced. Other than a dislike of purple, I had free reign for color and started pulling the green and yellow from my stash, then added in the blues for contrast. After piecing the three arrows, I auditioned several fabrics before deciding on the orange dots.

I love free motion quilting, and once this was all together, it was fun creating different designs in each section! The middle design is a new one to me - and I'll use that again!

Swapping with Margaret at QuiltCon was fantastic! We pulled and flipped our quilts at the same time and I think both of our eyes lit up at what we saw. This is what Margaret made for me - and it's perfect. The curves, the colors, the fabrics, I love it all and can't wait to add it to my wall of quilts.

Many thanks to our swap fairy @lovinglissa as well. There's a huge crowd of swap groups and partners, so you get to see what others have made and there are so many amazing quilts being shared!

#mqgminiswap2023 

Make a Garland

Back in December I won a kit for the Garland quilt by SuzyQuilts and in January she hosted a Sew Along for the pattern. So of course I joined in on that! 

The kit fabrics were solids, in a Christmasy color way, and I added some grunge metallic stars in red and green to the mix. I can't resist adding prints to all solids, and was glad to have just the right shades of the stars to include. 

Making the scrappy strips took some time, but it was fun to mix and match pieces without a plan in mind. Once those strips were finished the rest of the top came together quickly. So far, it's still a top, but it'll be fun to quilt and have ready for winter.