Sewing Smaller

A couple weeks ago, Make Modern magazine announced a quilt challenge on their Instagram account. The challenge was to make a mini mini quilt - a quilt that is 6" square or less.

Well, of course I wanted to participate! But I didn't want to make a "normal" mini quilt. I wanted to try something new!

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I had several ideas, but other secret sewing projects prevented me from getting started right away. In the mean time, other people made mini mini quilts with all of my ideas. I wanted to be different!

During this same time, I watched the Missouri Star Quilt Company's video tutorial for the Easy Cathedral Window Quilt.

My brain started blurring the lines between these two ideas, and I came up with my mini mini quilt!

I started with 2" squares. The background squares are a navy solid, the cathedral window frames are solid white, and the inside of each cathedral window is a tiny floral print from Bonnie & Camille's Vintage Picnic line for Moda.

Before sewing the middle cathedral window or the middle frame on the other four, I cut a slit through the quilt sandwich and tucked the backing and batting inside the quilt sandwich so it would be sewn in place as I stitched the frame. I used pins (!) to make sure it stayed in place.

There are a few tiny places with exposed raw edges. But it's a mini mini quilt. It will hang on the wall and be stared at. Most likely from a few feet away. I doubt it will ever be washed or examined with a magnifying glass. So I figured it would be fine.

Once the quilting was done, (Have you ever tried a "quilt as you go" project? It saves so much time!) I used a leftover  navy binding strip from a soon-to-be-revealed quilt to bind the mini mini. I used a double fold binding and it worked just fine for this size. The quilt finished right at 6" square.

Overall, a fun take on the cathedral window quilt! Would this be a mini mini cathedral window window quilt? Maybe a mini² cathedral window² quilt?

(Edited to add the following on July 9, 2016)

Make Modern announced the winners of the #MMminimini challenge today, and I'm one of the winners! They picked 39 of their favorites (out of more than 700 entries!), and my cathedral window mini made the cut! I won a year-long subscription to the magazine!

(Edited to add the following on June 4, 2016)

Just as Make Modern warned, mini mini quilts are addicting to make! They are perfect for trying new ideas and give a relatively quick finish.

After finishing the cathedral window mini mini, I sketched some other related ideas. I couldn't put off making another one!

I chose to use Cotton Supreme solids by RJR fabrics. I pieced the triangles together first, then attempted piecing the white piece all at once. I think I should watch a tutorial. It didn't work like I imagined it would (but you can't really tell from the front).

I cut triangles through the quilt and quilted around them. Then quilted tiny triangles throughout the rest of the white section. I decided to leave the triangle section unquilted.

This mini mini finishes at 5" x 6".

Now I'm off to contemplate the feasibility of my other sketches!

(Edited again on June 4, 2016 to add the following.)

I made a third (and final?) mini mini for this endeavor. I took zero pictures during the process (similar to the more kids you have, the less pictures you take?).

I also decided to keep the interior edges raw. On the previous two, I had tried turning the seams inward so the seams appeared finished. This time, I decided to keep it more in tune with raw edge applique. Again, I figured it's never going to be washed.

I used some Bonnie and Camille scraps, mostly from Daysail, and a solid navy binding. It finished at 5" square.

Have you ever made a mini mini quilt? It's perfect for trying out a new-to-you technique!

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