A mini for Manda

Here is my completed mini quilt for my last swap of the year - the Bee A {modern} Swapper end of the year holiday swap. I have to say that I am really very happy with how it came out. This pattern is Design Studio pattern by Charise Creates.

And I did stitch a lovely needle for that machine, but it was in the parking lot, minutes before I mailed it, which was 20 minutes before closing time on the last day to mail. Oh and I had to unwrap the parcel first as I had forgotten, even though I had send myself an email reminder  the night before when I was too tired to stitch it nicely. So I don't have a picture with the needle.



My partner was the Manda, who sometimes blogs at Manda Made Quilts. Manda is one of the mamas for this whole bee/swap group and has done a lot of work over this last year keeping the group fun and on track. She had put this Design Studio pattern by Charise Creates in her mosaic and I decided that since she wanted it, she would have it.

I had used a part of this pattern earlier this fall to make a pincushion, and I just repeated the sewing machine fabrics as I really love them. That little label on the sewing machine says Manufactured Specially by Latest (unreadable) Methods. The black fabric is one that actually features the Eiffel Tower but I worked around that to get the flowers and leaves only.

When I found the fabric for the quilt in progress, I was so pleased. It is a print from Jay McCarroll's Habitat, and has just the right scale for this scene.



The dress fabric is from Centre City by Jay McCarroll, I thought it would show off the folds, look fun and contemporary, and quilty too. The text Sew print and the outside border text is from Mama Said Sew, by Sweetwater. Both the Sweetwater and the Jay McCarroll prints are some of my very favourite fabrics, which I wanted to share in this swap.

The fire engine red (I think it is Kona Tomato) background works so much better than I would have expected. I had learned, via Katherine, that Manda was partial to a red room, and that is why I kept the front of the mini a secret, it is sort of a big give away.



When I reached this stage, I auditioned borders. I am not good at borders, as I don't really like them on most quilts. I realized that by using the black for the machine and the red for the walls, I could, and really needed to, use quite "heavy" or strongly coloured borders to balance those elements. The inner aqua is Essex linen from my Mod Pop quilt and the binding is a Kona from my pile of blues. The black is one of the Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater text prints.



Here is the back, again. The Katie Jump Rope Denyse Schmidt print is really nice displayed like this. The mini is about a 14" square. And, that is also the triple zip pouch that I sent along as the extra - it uses my new Winterkist fabrics which are so fun and colourful. I packed the pouch with some bits from my sewing room - scraps, ribbon, buttons, and such.

Manda has received this package, and I know she loves it. It was a pleasure to make this for her. I am going to call this a Friday Felicity and link up with Felicity at Felicity Quilts.

That is my last swap package to send for the year. I still have one coming to me in this same swap. I am going to remember to focus on the message in my in-progress No quilt as new swaps come up, I really want to spend some time in the coming year trying new things on my own schedule and focus. Maybe I need a No quilt for my sewing room too?

Enjoy your Friday. Tomorrow at my house is for baking cookies and shopping, making lists, checking them off and such - yikes!

Leanne