Yes, I know it's November, and like the butcher who backed into the sausage machine, I've got a little behind in my work. The main reason is because, well, in between my day job I've been making quilts like this one.
You may recall, Di B, Sue M and I signed up, back in July, for a 6 month Mini Quilt Club through Fabric Garden. Each month the lovely Sue Miller sends us a different Jaybird Quilts (designed by Julie Herman) mini quilt pattern, and we get together at Quilt Central (also known as Di B's place) for a hilarious time stitching our individual quilts for that month.
I've shared The first of these, Radio Way, in a previous post. It was a quilt I really loved making. In fact we all did. This one, not so much. For me it was just a little 'busy' and I really found it hard to choose my fabrics because I couldn't get my head around where each one would end up.
This was my selection, all pulled from my fabric stash. As usual, I cut my pieces prior to our stitching day to save time, and to keep myself on track I labelled them all with masking tape.
These progress pics show my quilt (left), Sue's (top right) and Di B's (bottom right).
I'm sorry to say I still wasn't completely smitten with my Come What May mini quilt when the top was finished. So I decided to mentally divide it into squares and machine quilt petals inside each on these spaces.
This way I began to see a secondary pattern emerge, rather than just the pieced pattern which still looks way too random.
Don't get me wrong, I love Julie's quilt designs. It's just how my brain works (or doesn't 😜) with this one.
Come what may, I was determined to make this mini quilt work for me and I'm very happy to say it does.
That's what this Mini Quilt Club is all about for me. Sometimes I'm instantly smitten with that month's pattern, and sometimes it takes a little longer for the love to grow.
Either way, it's exciting to be challenged with new techniques, patterns and colour combinations every month, stretchng myself and moving out of my comfort zone. That's what it's all about.
