Bluebird of Quiltiness

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Elizabeth E.

Bluebird Tiny Quilt_1

Another Tiny Quilt was hatched today, and its this Bluebird of Quiltiness. Based on a 1-1/2″ block size, I figured it out and made it up, finishing it with the perfect faceted black bead for the eye. There are multiple patterns out there for pieced birds, and while I changed this one up enough that I consider it my pattern and no one else’s, I’m not putting a PDF out there. Just in case.

Bluebird on Nest

However, this one is different enough that I’m posting up a PDF of the pattern pieces, in case you want to make a bird on a nest for your next Tiny Quilt. Grab the PDF file here: Nested Bird pattern and have fun making another little Tiny Quilt. (I have a listing of all the Tiny Quilts on this blog, in case you’re interested.)

After you create the bird (with, or without nest), then you sew on borders until it’s large enough. See the first Tiny Quilt for more instructions.

Wanting to finish this today made me leave the house, avoid the parking lot also known as our Memorial Day freeway gridlock, just to get over to WalMart to buy a landscape-oriented frame. It’s those cheesy plastic frames, nothing fancy. To modify this one, I laid the frame down on my quilt, traced around it, and used those lines to create the backing and put the binding on.

Sing Stitchery_1

I also finished this bird-themed stitchery, purchase eons ago at Primitive Gatherings. I took it with me to Berlin, but finished it up here. Now to find a frame for this.

Pinned Quilts_1

The other day I pin-basted three wall-sized quilts, and started stitching on the first one: Quilting with no direction

Right. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m having fun. I ~~think~~ am hoping it will make more sense when I get the whole thing done. Stay tuned; it will be long while, as I still limit my daily quilting minutes.

Bindings Needed_1

And the three quilts came back from Cathy of CJ Designs, my quilter. One is in Active Binding Mode downstairs by the TV, and two (above) are waiting for binding. The whirly-gig backed quilt is also waiting for more quilting along the borders. The fun thing was that I’ve had a number quilts done by her, and so I hit the magic number and the last one was done for free. It’s her way of saying thank you to her customers. (Thank you, Cathy!)

Mom and her quilt

But I’m leaving all this behind this next week, as I head up to my Mother’s to help celebrate her 91st birthday. (I do like to remind her that if you turn the numbers upside down, she’s a girl of 16.) She’s shown above with about the only quilt I can remember her making: a cross-stitched top which was sent out to be hand-quilted.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom, around age 12, holding her birthday cake

Happy Fourth of July 2018

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Elizabeth E.

Fourth July Tiny Quilt

To honor the 4th of July, I stitched up another tiny quilt. I love being patriotic, as the meaning has a sense of loving America and its peoples, the history and the early settlers, and those who set up the government in 1776. It helps that my nickname in my childhood was Betsy, but I do love the red, white and blue.

Fourth July Tiny Quilt_1

I went through my Orphan Quilt Blocks box, found one that wasn’t being used, and smallerized it, using this PDF pattern to cut it out: Fourth July Tiny Quilt Star Center

Fourth July Tiny Quilt_2

I put on two borders, quilted it (so fast because it’s so small) and put a single-thickness binding on it (cut your strip 1-1/2″ wide), gluing down the back binding and top-stitching it down. It is one of those quilt projects you can take at full throttle–no fussy cutting or intricate piecing. Put your pedal to the medal and crank out a 4th of July star tiny quilt!

Fourth July Tiny Quilt_back

It slips over the back of one of those cheezy plastic stand picture frames (under 2 bucks at Walmart). [More on the quilt underneath it at the end of the post.]

Tiny Sailboat Quilt_front on frame

Here’s a post with general directions as well as how to make a sailboat design.
And I have also made:

Mini Quilt Spring 18_4

a snowman,

Tiny Pumpkin Quilt_front

a harvest pumpkin, (which has more directions, especially on that binding)

Tiny Trees

and some Christmas trees. (I included the directions for the smaller trees.)

AmericaIsATune_front AmericaIsATune_back AmericaIsATune_label

I made the quilt above quilt five years ago at the same time we had a government shut-down, and I was moaning about government needing to behave itself then. I now look back on that particular chaos with a wistful glance; would that we had that steadiness now!

Shout Hurrah for America

Yet, I still believe that America is a Tune, and that we must figure it out — sing it — together, no matter how painful things are. After reading the book Hamilton, I value what those early fathers of our country (and mothers, too) must have faced and appreciate how much work they did and how inspired they were to come together and get the framework off the ground.

Uncle Sam

Have a Happy Fourth of July!

Tiny Tree and Teeny Trees

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Elizabeth E.

Tiny Trees

I’m decorating for Christmas and wanted to change out my Tiny Quilt from Autumn to Christmas, but then got wondering how a teeny-weeny quilt would look, so got busy. These little quilts fit onto plastic picture frames:

I have two free patterns for you here, but please remember the drill: Don’t print off umpteen for your next class, or guild meeting swap or your mother. Please send them here to get their own pattern.

The teeny tree (4×6″) pattern is in this downloadable PDF file:Teeny Christmas Tree quilt

The tiny tree (8×10″) pattern is in this downloadable PDF file:Tiny Christmas tree quilt

As you can see from the samples I made up, I play fast and loose with some of the placement of pieces, really using them more as a guideline for cutting, than anything else (although I did cut out the tree exactly).

Tiny Tree_1

Cut out all the pieces for the pattern you’ve chosen. As I noted above, sometimes I used the pattern (shown here before I added the labels) as sort of a general guidelines. You need an accurate tree, and a nice straight edge where you’ll sew it to the tree (the diagonal line in the photo, above). Tiny Tree_2

I sewed the “sky” pieces to the sides of the trunks then trimmed the edge that would attach to the tree. More detailed tutorial is also on my OTHER Christmas Tree block tutorial, which is sized somewhere in between these two tree sizes. (I should open up a Christmas Tree lot with all these patterns.) Tiny Tree_3

Sew the “right” side onto the tree. Make sure you keep the marked top triangle point pointing upwards.

Tiny Tree_4a

Trim any stray areas (above), then add the other side.

Tiny Tree_5

Straighten out the bottom of the tree assembly. Center, then sew on the tree-trunk unit, pressing seam towards tree (so it looks like the trunk is under the tree). Tiny Tree_6a

Now to add the snowdrifts on the little tree. On the left, I sort of place that wedge-shaped piece, determine the angle but flipping it up and down (on the right). When I have the angle I like, flip it back up so right sides are together, and stitch along the upper edge. Trim. Tiny Tree_6b

Repeat for lower snowdrift. Trim excess.

Tiny Tree_7
For the bigger tree, I added on 2″ strips to frame the tree. It needed something to jazz it up, so I got rid of the bottom strip on the pattern and just used strips all around. Tiny Tree_7a

Layer with batting and backing and quilt. I did a meander in the sky area around the trees, then some straight lines in the snowdrift on the teeny tree, and some straight lines in the frame around the bigger tree:

Tiny Tree_8a

I also quilted some swirls in the center of the tree. Tiny Tree_8b

Time to trim. The teeny trees trim to 4-3/4″ by 6-1/2″ and the larger tree is trimmed to 8-3/4″ by 10-1/2.”

Tiny Tree_9

Make a sleeve for the back by cutting a piece the same size as the quilt top, but then hem the lower edge, turning it up twice and top-stitching. I know it’s hard to see in this print, but again, feel free to check out the other tutorials of tiny quilts. Tiny Tree_10a