Teeny Quilt for St. Patrick’s Day

May your pockets be heavy, and your heart be light;
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.

And may you have a few a minutes to stitch yourself up a little Teeny Quilt on a Frame for St. Patrick’s Day. Pattern is a free PDF download:

I’m adding this to the Main Page of Tiny and Teeny Quilts on a Frame, so you can always find it there.

This teeny quilt on a frame was inspired by two things: this March pillow from Stash Fabrics (from Riley Blake’s Year of Pillows).

And because a dear friend of mine, who is by all rights and purposes is Irish (even though she was born and raised in the United States), has had a bad dose of it this year, and I didn’t want her to be forgotten on her favorite day. She’s the one who would hand out pots of shamrocks to her friends on St. Patrick’s Day. She and her husband have also gone to Ireland about a dozen times, and I never tire of her bopping out with phrases in the way they say them in Ireland. She gardens like no one else, loves saints and sinners and babies and her family with a fierce love, including her friends in that welcoming aura.

While I machine appliquéd the hearts on the pillow, I decided that for such a small project, I would fuse the hearts on.

I put a light crease at the halfway mark — both ways — to get those hearts perfectly centered.

A simple topstitch with green thread, then a white echo, then stipple everywhere else. I’ve learned not to get too “over-the-top” on the quilting with these tiny quilts: the design is the most important, not the quilting.

I cut my binding strips 1 1/2″ wide and use the single-fold binding technique (post is also found in the Tutorials, Techniques, and Freebies, above). I use a glue stick to get it into place, then topstitch down the binding 1/4″ away from the edge and no farther. This ensures that you can slide your picture frame into the pocket on the back.

Happy Making to you all–

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!