Modern Mini Challenge with Ellison Lane Quilts

I usually don't have time to enter quilt challenges.  Big surprise.  However this particular challenge is just for a mini quilt.  I figured that I had enough time to be able to handle this.  The challenge is being hosted by Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts.  The deadline for your entry is 5:00 pm June 16th and I just made it.  Whew!

I have been taking Camille Roskelley's Craftsy Class called Pre-cut Piecing Made Simple.  Like I told you in my last blog post, piecing quilt tops is my least favorite part of the quilting process.  I have been quilting for a long time now, but never really tried other piecing techniques such as triangles, star blocks, etc.  I have always admired Camille Roskelley's quilt tops for their accuracy and she also designs patterns too, so when I heard that she was teaching a Craftsy class where she shares her tips and tricks I knew I had to purchase it.  I just finished up lesson 5 on half square triangles and I decided to make my mini quilt using half square triangles in one of the block formations that she recommended in the class.  I just loved this block formation after she demonstrated it and I had the perfect charm pack to use for it.  It is Summersville by Lucie Summers for Moda Fabrics.  It has such cute and fun summery prints.  I wanted a small little table topper for my dining room table and this was going to be perfect.

I must say that I love half square triangles now.  They really are fun and easy to make.  Plus the versatility of them is great.  You have so many options to place them in different patterns to get different looks!  

In the class, Camille pieces her charm pack squares with white, but I wanted to use black.  It seems everyone is using white lately, but I prefer black!  My family must be more "dirty" then everyone else's and I have two girls!  Anyways, here is the finished mini quilt top before quilting.

And after quilting.  I quilted a spiral flower that I have been working on in the center of the block.  Next in the black square outline, I took cues from the fabric and did loops all the way around the square.  I left the printed fabrics empty thinking they would really pop.  However, I kind of wish that I would have done a different quilted filler for the fabric prints but I would have had to use cream on top and black on bottom because my backing fabric was black.  When you use such contrasting threads, it usually doesn't work out the greatest, so I didn't attempt it.  Overall, I am happy with how it turned out.

Quilt Stats:
Fabric:  "Summersville" by Lucie Summers for Moda Fabric, the binding is made out of the Chevron print from Sweetwater's "Mama Said Sew" collection, and the backing fabric is Kona Black.
Quilting:  Spiral flower in center, and loopy quilting in the black square outline.  Quilted by me.
Thread:  Superior So Fine #50 in black on both the top and bottom.  This actually worked out the best because I usually have problems using this thread for the top, but using it in the bottom as well worked great!
Finished Size: 14 inches by 14 inches
Pattern:  Camille Roskelley's Craftsy Class "Pre-cut Piecing Made Simple"

Also linking up with Plum and June Let's Get Acquainted Linkup.

Also don't forget to visit this week's bloggers for the "2013 New Blogger's Blog Hop".  List is shown below.

Friday, June 21st

Leigh Anne @ Ella's Cottage

Stacey @ The Tilted Quilt

Sarah @ Quilt Candy

Jackie @ NW Patchwork

Liz @ Beadqueene's Bits And Baubles

Erica @ Happy Fabric

Stephanie @ Simple Sewendipity

Lauren @ Seraphym

Amy @ Cloud CouCou Crafts

Happy quilting!