A February Mini, 2022

 One of my favorite games

as a kid was Pick Up Sticks.

The object was to pick up each stick

without wiggling another stick.

That led me to 

dig into my overflowing strip basket

and pick up  pink, brown and light strips and

 see what I could make with them.

My February Mini

Pick Up Sticks

33" x 30"

My February mini reminded me of that game.

Lots of narrow strips, side by side, with me

 trying to sew them together

without wiggling the strip next to it.  

To give me some sense of order and control,

I precut both light and dark strips,

then randomly picked up pieces,

sewing them into the alternating light and dark combinations.

The "sticks" created a zig and zag pattern when 

stitched together.

All those tossed strips 

that were pulled from my basket

were fun to stitch together for this month's mini.

I kept thinking as I was machine quilting in the ditch,

why can I sew perfectly straight in the light areas

and then wiggle so much in the dark areas.

Always a little bobble, just like playing 

"Pick Up Sticks".

In keeping with my January photos,

I realized I had another series.

Browns and pinks,

a classic combination.

 

Yes, I trumped through the snow again

to reach my barbed wire fence,

but for the sake of art, I did it in 6 degree weather!

Oh, what  mini makers will do.

Check out the other hearty makers on 

Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter. 

*****

Our world feels much smaller today

And filled with sadness and apprehension

. 

Until Next Time-

Kyle

A Flannel Quilt Workout

 With the beginning of a new year

and the Winter Olympics currently going on,

maybe it was time to think

about "shaping up".

Well, I wasn't necessarily thinking about

it physically, but rather,

thinking about  "targeting" some of 

those long forgotten projects.

In my sewing room 

lingering right over my shoulders

in plain view

are these adorable practical picnic baskets.

And this one has been holding 

flannel fabric for a project for over a decade.

The original idea had long ago

"stalled out".

Now was the time to "reshape" 

these already cut 8 inch squares of 

Kansas Trouble flannels into something new.

But with flannels I didn't want to be too "aggressive"

and cut 

it all up into very small pieces.

So I happened to find a free pattern

by Kim Diehl available through Henry Glass Fabrics

called Heritage Stars.

It's similar to patterns we've seen before, and

I thought I could "workout" my fabric sizes with

Kim's ideas pretty easily.

With a little imagination

interpretation,

and  "endurance"

it was becoming a "winning" solution.

You can see that I "stretched" the idea

of the stars into the borders

and "maximized" the use of the flannels.

It will be perfect for our winter weather 

and it was  the perfect project to "tackle" and

"rehabilitate" those lingering flannels.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

A Cold January MIni Quilt

For many people, January seems like 

a very long month.

Maybe because it follows the busy holiday season.

It was nice to have another

monthly mini to work on

during these wintery days.

Long Winter Days

28" x 33"

This pattern was from the #140  Quiltmania magazine

and the designer is  Maria Tamaoka of Pinwheels .

You can find this pattern on her web site.

One of the things on my 2022 list

was to dig deep into my stash,

and maybe find some useable surprises.

I found the navy and white star fabric for the background of the trees.

Notice the date on the salvage, 1990.

The trees were made with a variety of light plaids

and strips.  

The other fabric above is what I used on the back.

Sweetwater fabric by Moda used to be called

Farmyard Creations way way back when. 

Two very old fabrics from the stash, but were 

still perfect for a 2022 monthly mini.

Another thing I had on my 2022 list of things to do

was to make something using paper piecing.

These little trees were perfect.  

A lot of quilters had been make 

cute little trees over the holidays

so why not in January as well. 

I love trimming up the blocks.

Everything comes out so neat, crisp and perfect.

So cute!

I loved the low contrast  trees against

the night time winter sky.

The other day my pines were frost covered

and resembled the trees in the quilt.

With some simple straight line quilting 

and a flange binding my January mini was complete.

The cold January morning light

casted a blue shadow which was prefect for this quilt.

I discovered as many of us begin another year

of monthly minis coordinated by 

Wendy, the Constant Quilter, 

that I have a nice collection of small quilts.

January - A Blue and White Series

The snow doesn't look deep, but it had drifted up

by the barb wire fence and had a hard crust on top.

You can see where I kept breaking through.

It was actually a challenge hanging these up!

Running Man watched out the window 

 wondering if he would have to come out

for a snow rescue.

I made it back in.

Until Next time-

Kyle