Tiny Quilt Life

Hey There!

I am starting a new hashtag.  Well, I don't know if it's new.  But I've never seen it before.

#tinyquiltlife

I have been obsessed of late with finding out how small I can make an actual quilt. Big projects are difficult for me to accomplish with the sewing setup I have now.  Someday....

​The last quilt I made used 2" squares.  Now, I'm working with 1 1/2" squares.

As usual, I'm hooked on the Single Irish Chain block.  I had some Batik dyed fat quarters languishing in the fabric drawer.  I used the green for a cover for my Missal.  There is some purple/emerald green that I am not sure what to do with.  But, I liked the way these three colors worked together.

Surprisingly, putting this photo in grayscale to check the intensity of the squares results in squares that are pretty much the same.

In color, to my eyes, the blue pops out immediately.

This is not the arrangement I settled on.  

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​I am hand sewing the whole thing.  Well, I probably will machine sew the binding to the front of the quilt, but that will probably be about it.   

In some ways, this project is making me anxious.  I really want to get it done!  The blocks are looking so nice already!  However, sewing by hand makes me slow down.  Plus, I am thinking that my OP Juki will tear these little squares right up.

As for being tiny, even though these squares are kind of tiny, the whole quilt will not be tiny per se.  It will probably be about 22" square.

I am planning on using 1" squares next time.  The smaller the square, the more each little mistake is magnified.  I don't know what I am going to use for batting when the quilts start getting truly tiny.

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By the way, I have started using 100% silk thread for this project. They had a sale at JoAnn Fabrics a while back on Gütterman thread. I picked up some of the silk and some of the 100% cotton.  I had heard that silk is particularly strong, and it slides through the fabric like butter.  I am also using beeswax on the thread.

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​There will be nine of these blocks in total in the quilt, and sixteen others.  Eight of those will have two orange squares on the top and eight will have two yellow.

​So far I have completed the nine blocks with the two blue squares on the top row of the block and two with orange on the top row.  

I am pleased with how well the corners are matching up.  

After putting aside all the squares for this project, I found that I have quite a few of the blue, yellow and orange squares left!

Some of the squares are a bit wonky.  I am worried because they are so small that even these little errors are prone to ruin the whole project.  I am also using only a 3/16" seam allowance.   This will make things tricky.

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I am really enjoying this project.  It is teaching me to slow down and enjoy the process.  If my stitching line seems to be starting to go wrong, I can fix it right there, instead of only finding out after taking it off the machine. Mistakes can be hard to fix, though.  It is more difficult to take out hand stitching than you would think!  The impression is that machine stitching is the more secure stitch, but hand stitches can be quite sturdy.

All in all, I am pleased with the way this project is going. 

Look for more updates on my #tinyquiltlife.

​:)

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