I first heard of Mile a Minute quilting from the American Quilter Magazine, Winter 2000, in an article by Carol A. Coski (page 49). Basically you take your scraps and just sew the pieces together rather randomly until you finally have some pieces large enough to cut some blocks.
I had so many scraps left from the Challenge Quilt I showed recently because I was playing the whole quilt by ear or improvisationally, not really knowing what would work and having to slice off large bits of fabrics that I did not need. So above, you can see all my scraps left - plenty for another quilt.
I began sewing pieces together, even as small as 1 1/2". Leftover triangles turned into squares and there were many strips left to add to the odd shaped pieces I was coming up with. I finally decided I would make a quilt called Chinese Coins. Roberta Horton has one in her book, Scrap Quilts, the Art of Making Do. By the way, she has inspired me greatly through the years with her work and from taking her classes several times at the Houston Quilt Festival. She likes plaids to be 'casually off-grain'. I really like that as opposed to having to have them all match up perfectly. She helps free you from those rules instilled in us in HomeEc in high school.
Here are some of the pieces sewn together ready to be cut into rectangles. I came up with the measurements for my blocks to be 5" x 7", so my scraps had to be a minimum of that size.
I then laid the ruler on the piece to be sure it was large enough then cut my rectangle. I took the leftover pieces and began adding them to other scraps. Now towards the end I had some pieces that were almost all seams because there were just little strips left but I ended up with 40+ blocks.
I found some beautiful magenta fabrics in my stash that I will use for the vertical sashing, which is what makes the chinese coins pattern. Just several vertical rows of blocks. It will be a while before I get the sashing added as I have some longarm quilting that must get done. So, until next time - Happy Quilting and Stitch when you Can!
I had so many scraps left from the Challenge Quilt I showed recently because I was playing the whole quilt by ear or improvisationally, not really knowing what would work and having to slice off large bits of fabrics that I did not need. So above, you can see all my scraps left - plenty for another quilt.
I began sewing pieces together, even as small as 1 1/2". Leftover triangles turned into squares and there were many strips left to add to the odd shaped pieces I was coming up with. I finally decided I would make a quilt called Chinese Coins. Roberta Horton has one in her book, Scrap Quilts, the Art of Making Do. By the way, she has inspired me greatly through the years with her work and from taking her classes several times at the Houston Quilt Festival. She likes plaids to be 'casually off-grain'. I really like that as opposed to having to have them all match up perfectly. She helps free you from those rules instilled in us in HomeEc in high school.
Here are some of the pieces sewn together ready to be cut into rectangles. I came up with the measurements for my blocks to be 5" x 7", so my scraps had to be a minimum of that size.
I then laid the ruler on the piece to be sure it was large enough then cut my rectangle. I took the leftover pieces and began adding them to other scraps. Now towards the end I had some pieces that were almost all seams because there were just little strips left but I ended up with 40+ blocks.
I found some beautiful magenta fabrics in my stash that I will use for the vertical sashing, which is what makes the chinese coins pattern. Just several vertical rows of blocks. It will be a while before I get the sashing added as I have some longarm quilting that must get done. So, until next time - Happy Quilting and Stitch when you Can!
I love just randomly piecing fabrics to make larger fabrics!I'm sure this is going to be fabulous!
ReplyDeleteOooohhh, Auntie J! I love it. I can't wait to see the finished product.
ReplyDelete