2020 Mini Series SAL – Finished Project Reveal!

Hi everyone,

I’m happy to say that I’ve finished my project in the 2020 Mini Series sew-along, hosted by Giucy Giuce and Alison Glass. Over the past 2 months, we have made 8 tiny foundation paper pieced blocks as part of this SAL plus a 9th bonus block for registered participants!

This SAL was a great virtual quilting community project to work on during COVID-19. We encouraged each other through our posts on Instagram, which you can find using the #MiniSeriesSAL hashtag.

I completed all the blocks and decided to piece them together into a “skinny mini” horizontal quilt. I added a 2-inch border to the top, bottom, and sides. I did not add any sashing strips between my blocks because I had a special place in my quilting room picked out to display this quilt.

For quilting, I used Glide thread in white and did some simple piano keys in the borders using a ruler. I also stitched-in-the-ditch around each quilt block.

Quilting my “skinny mini”

For my binding, I used a print from Tula Pink’s Zuma line that perfectly complemented the Kona cotton colors that I used for my blocks. This is the same fabric line that I used for the little green print with the seahorses, stars, and anchors in my blocks.

I’m displaying my Mini Series skinny mini quilt above a closet door in my quilting room and attached to a shelf holding some of my antique toy sewing machines. I love the beachy pop of color that it provides in that color. It also coordinates well with the Sherwin Williams Sea Salt paint on my walls!

Mini Series SAL Finished Project, A Skinny Mini!

This has been such a great project to make over the past several months. I’m happy that I kept up with the blocks each week, and that I was able to finish a project on time to get a finisher’s pin. When the pin arrives, I’ll add it to my skinny mini! My thanks to both Giucy Giuce and Alison Glass for hosting this sew-along!!

Happy quilting,

~Jen

Making a Ski Patrol Themed Pillow, Part 2, the Reveal!

Hi everyone,

In my last post, I talked about making a pillow front as part of a special graduation gift for my nephew. Although we are not able to travel to his modified graduation ceremony, I still wanted to make him a gift that he could take with him to college in the fall.

For the pillow back, I designed a foundation paper pieced block based on the logo of the ski resort where he worked as a ski patrol member. I thought it would a fun personal touch!

I used solid Kona cottons in red, blue, and white for the ski resort logo. The background is the same ski lift print from Dear Stella that I used on the pillow front.

For quilting, I used the channel locks on my HQ Avante for hand-guided straight lines. I wanted to keep the quilting very simple. I used Glide thread in white. I did quilt all three of the pillow panels at the same time using solid pieces of backing and batting.

Quilting the ski patrol pillow panels

Once I finished quilting the panels, I cut each panel down to the appropriate size, using the dimensions in the free “Simple Quilted Pillows” pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

Ski patrol pillow panels after quilting and trimming

I did bind the two back panel pieces using the same red Kona cotton for a nice pop of color on the pillow back. I pre-washed all the fabrics, and washed the red Kona two times with color catchers. I wanted to be sure that my nephew could remove the pillow cover and wash it without worrying about the red fabric bleeding into the other fabrics.

Ski Patrol pillow front, close-up

I really love how this pillow turned out, and I hope that my nephew enjoys it as he starts his college life!

Happy quilting,

~Jen