Cotton & Steel Mini Quilt Swap

Back in February, I saw a new swap announced on Instragram for Cotton & Steel mini quilts.  I am very much a fan of Cotton & Steel and the deadline was way out in June so I quickly signed up.

My assigned recipient of the mini indicated that she liked all of the Cotton & Steel fabrics, loved the color pink, and would be happy with whatever I made her.  That left things pretty wide open for me so I decided to try a new technique that had been on my list to try for while; the no-sew hexie.  I used Modern Handcraft's tutorial to make the mini quilt.  I decided to use 1" on a side hexagons, which are about 2" in diameter.

I totally decided to cheat and not stitch my hexies into shape but instead just glue them onto the paper template.  I used a bit of glue stick to glue the fabric to the hexie pattern (just copy paper I printed and cut myself), then folded the fabric down on each side of the hexie and glued the folded fabric to the template.  Once they were dry I pressed them really well, ripped out the paper, and repressed them back into shape.  Not the most elegant, but it worked pretty well.

Once I had my hexies done I started to audition them on different backgrounds.  I originally was going to use the cream with metallic grid-like pattern Cotton & Steel print, but I decided that there was not enough contrast.

Next, I tried the hexies on some yarn dyed essex linen in black and loved it (I think that essex linen is the best background, such great texture).  Once I placed the hexies on the essex black, I decided to pull the flower print hexies out and add in some hexies made from the cream and metallic print was was originally going to be the background.

I arranged and glued down the hexies on a quilt sandwich, then quilted like Nicole did in her tutorial.

My mini finished up at about 15" x 20".  Now I just need to get the mini labeled and packaged up with some other goodies I have made and bought.  I hope the recipient loves it!  I will be back to post about the mini I receive :)

I am linking up to Link a Finish Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, and Show Off Saturday @ Sew She Can.

Also, just as a reminder, I just launch the Midnight Mystery Quilt (with an un-mystery quilt option) this month.  Check out this post to learn more and join in!

Layers of Charm with the Fat Quarter Shop

When I got an e-mail late last year asking if I wanted to take part in the launch of a new Fat Quarter Shop pattern I did not hesitate in sending back a big "yes, please"!  In addition to one of the largest collections of fabric for sale (along with super quick shipping), the Fat Quarter Shop produces free, beginner friendly patterns.

The Fat Quarter Shop's newest pattern is called Layers of Charm and the you can download the free PDF pattern here and check out the video tutorial here.  The pattern uses one layer cake and one charm pack to make a nice 57.5 x 57.5" lap sized quilt (the pattern also includes instructions for sizes ranging from baby, to table runner, all the way to king).

I chose to make my version using a layer cake of the Mustang collection by Melody Miller for Cotton & Steel and a white charm pack. 

Mustang has so many different colors and prints in the layer cake, which gives the quilt a fun, scrappy look.

I quilted pebbles in the white diamonds using a white Aurifil thread and a meandering pattern in the print fabrics using a light gray Aurifil thread.  For the binding, I used a print from the PB&J collection by Sweetwater for Moda, which matches surprising well.  

As a little tip, you can get a bonus half square triangle (HST) from each block if you make an extra stitch line a 1/2" away from the first stitch line before trimming 1/4" from the first line.  I am going to use my 36 extra HST in a pillow top.

This was a fun and easy quilt to make.  I really liked the large fabric piece sizes within the blocks which highlighted some of the larger scale Mustang prints.  Be sure to download the free Layers of Charm pattern here and then watch the You Tube Video Tutorial here.  

I am linking up my bonus HST tip with the new linky party Tips and Tutorials Tuesday over at the Late Night Quilter's blog.

I am also linking up to Link a Finish Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, and Show Off Saturday @ Sew She Can.