Micro Mini Fun

I’d like to share with you some little just for fun projects I’ve been doing lately as part of a sew along hosted by the lovely Lesley over on Instagram, The micro mini quilt SAL. If I’m honest, I’ve never really been that into mini quilts, but boy I think I’ve been missing out. I joined this sew along because I knew it would push me out of my comfort zone and make me design on a mini scale.

I made two quilts for this sew along. This first one kind of just happened, after I was playing with my new “Sew Easy” Dresden ruler and wanted to make a Dresden plate using it. I then had a cute rainbow dresden plate that needed to be made into something. A Mini rainbow dresden mug rug it was, measuring in at just 7” square.

I love mug rugs I think they are my favourite kind of mini quilt, sweet and useful and a great gift for anyone. I added a stripy pink binding (my favourite), and a fussy cut of Tasha Noel’s Vintage market fabric to the centre. I felt this was the perfect match as I used 1930’s repo prints for my Dresden blades.

My stripy binding also matched perfectly to the pink stripe on the tent. I added some hand stitching to my dresden after I appliquéd it to the background fabric with one of my fav Aurifloss colours, blue/grey (did I mention I love Aurifloss!). I also snuck in a sweet little babushka doll tag made from cotton tape and my mini was complete.

My next mini happened mostly out of laziness. My plan was to make postage stamps, (FREE tutorial Here) out of some fussy cuts I’d made from fabric scraps. Instead I got a bit lazy about adding the white part to the stamp and decided I was going to use them a bit like ticker tape. When I was looking at all my sweet little fussy cuts, they were all different and reminded me of playing I spy as a kid. And so, an ‘I spy’ mini quilt it was. I arranged my fussy cuts to fit in a 5” square on a white piece of homespun then adhered them using with the already attached heat and bond and a hot iron. I then stuck this to a piece of cotton batting and stitched around each one, very close to the edge of fabric. Even my smallest ones which where way less than ½”.

I felt like this mini needed a special ‘I spy’ label, so I made a linen patch (Amy Sinibaldi’s speciality) and stitched a tiny little strawberry next to the ‘I Spy’, because who doesn’t love strawberries. I just love the way linen contrasts with fabric.

I also added some hand stitching around some of my little fussy cuts, as I just felt it needed something a little extra. And of course, some more stripy binding to finish it off, this time a sweet mint. I just can’t get enough of stripy binding!

As a mum, I love this I spy mini idea and think it would be a great thing to have on hand to keep little people entertained when needed. In the car on trips or waiting at the DR surgery. Call me old fashioned, but I’m happy to wear the label.