I have wanted to make this Mini Raincheck quilt ever since I saw it on Camille Roskelley's Simplify blog. Camille makes minis of all her gorgeous quilt patterns and showcases them on her studio wall. Now that my Swoon quilt is all put together I had a chance to use up even more of the scraps (in addition to what I used in the backing) to make my own mini.
The April Showers line is obviously a perfect match for the Raincheck quilt - all those fat raindrops and adorable umbrellas! The mini uses 
raw-edge applique to fashion little umbrellas to adorn the background fabrics. I only wanted to use my scraps so perhaps I would have chosen different colours than I did, but it's still pretty cute. I do have extra fat quarters, a layer cake, and some yardage of April Showers but I couldn't bring myself to cut into any of them for this mini - because I'm sure I will be making a full-size quilt of some sort with it and didn't want to jeopardize my stash.
It only took me an afternoon to throw this together and it was fun to have such a quick project. The 8"x10" size is really small and I knew it would also serve as the perfect hand-binding practice piece. I traced out the umbrella tops onto WonderUnder fusible web and cut them out. In my excitement, I ended up ironing most of them onto my scraps before I realized I forgot to piece several of the umbrella tops! I ended up with fewer pieced tops and more solids, but that's ok. My one hiccough came when I cut out the handles. Those things are so teeny tiny and I cut them from scrap triangles. I think that was a mistake because when I went to peel off the paper backing from the fusible web, the fabric kind of disintegrated between my fingers! (Bias trouble???) They are certainly really raggedy on my finished quilt!
Once all my blocks were joined and the sandwich made, I free-motion quilted the umbrellas. I went over them a few times with a messy echo stitch and then I used my walking foot to do some straight-line quilting 1/8th of an inch from the ditch. It was all really fun!
I practiced my ladder stitch on the binding and I agree with Heidi's comment that it does show less than a blind stitch. I got a little bit faster with the sewing and I did stitch my mitered corners along the way - much easier than going back to them at the end!
I've pinned my mini on my workshop wall. It sure looks small on there but is a playful tribute to Camille. You can get the free pattern on her website and check out the other mini patterns in her shop. I think I will now get on with a life-size quilt!
SO CUTE! I love these minis and you did a great job on this one.
Posted by: Margaret | May 21, 2014 at 08:14 AM