Sara made this adorable quilt for the Spring Blooms mini swap.

She then created this fabulous tutorial on how she did it: 3D Pinwheels Tutorial.

I definitely need to give these a try .. wouldn’t they look adorable on a friendship bag?

I’m slowly catching up after Canada Day celebrations last week and a visit to my family north of Toronto over the weekend. I had a fabulous time playing with my nieces, they are the best.

Just a few quick reminders:

• There are 195 participants for the Good Ol’ Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. I’ll be closing down registration Saturday morning, once I start sending out partner information.
• Friday is the last day to enter the “What was I thinking?” – The Ugly Quilt Contest. There are three great prizes up for grabs. Voting will start on Saturday. Check out the contestants.
• There are three great give-aways on the site right now that you can enter until tomorrow afternoon. Read the instructions for each, please.
  1. Happy Canada Day
  2. Guest Blogger Margaret Bucklew
  3. Friday Give-Away – Antique Quilt Dating Guides…by Style

Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap

To all participants in the Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap:

I know everyone is eager to receive their quilt and to find out if the quilt they sent has arrived. However, I’ve been getting a dozen or so emails a day asking on the status of their mini quilt. Please, please allow 14 to 21 business days for your quilt to arrive.

Before emailing me to follow-up, please check the participants list yourself, to see if the person you sent to has a blog and follow-up with them directly.

Please also note that approximately 25% of the participants were late sending their quilts. This is unfortunate, and I’m not sure why so many people were late. Let’s hope the Summer swap goes more smoothly.

I won’t be following up with any requests until the end of the month… I just don’t have the time to continue to do this.

Below is my finished quilt for the Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap. The centre part is a kaleidoscope block kit from The Quilted Corner that I received at Quilt Market.

I created the border using Brenda Henning’s Triangulations. The 1/4 square triangles were easy, but I messed up the corners and had to rip them out a few times after the outer border was on. Lesson learned = draft out what you’re doing first.

I had a lot of fun creating this mini quilt and trying new techniques. I quite liked making the kaleidoscope block from the pre-cut, it was super easy. I’d used Brenda’s Triangulations for another project and love it… very quick and easy and no messing around with bias edges.

Here’s the gorgeous creation I received from Anabela from Portugal. I love it and hung it up earlier today. It’s hanging in a little corner right outside the bathroom door, so I’m sure to see it several times a day.

Anabela also sent me these other goodies: purple pin cushion which is perfect size to live on my ironing board, purple magnet, already hanging on my fridge, a gorgeous fabric postcard, with a lovely message, a postcard of Lisboa and a sticker. Thank you Anabela, you’ve spoiled me rotten!

Ati from Norway also sent me a gorgeous fabric postcard as a thank you for hosting the swap. Thanks Ati, it’s beautiful and hangs in my sewing area for inspiration.

I’ve been wonderful to see all of the gorgeous creations coming to life for the Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap. The participants have done an amazing job.

To answer a couple of questions: Yes, there will be another summer-themed swap. Registration will begin June 23rd, with a mail date of September 21st. I’m also working on details for another swap to begin in August, something a little different. Stay tuned.

I’ve changed the final mail date for the Spring Blooms swap to Monday, June 22, 2009 as the 21st is a Sunday.

Please don’t forget to send your partner a thank you email when you receive their mini quilt. Several people have emailed me to ask if their quilt had been received. If you need an email address, just let me know.

I started working on my Spring Blooms Mini Quilt last night. At Quilt Market, I picked up this kaleidoscope block kit from The Quilted Corner. The pieces were all prepared, all I had to do was put it together. It took about an hour to make.

It finishes at 12″ and I’d like to make it a bit bigger. I’m thinking a 1/2″ black border, followed by 1.5″ peach border. Trying to decide if I should make the peach border 2″ and then bind in black, or leave it at 1.5″ and add a black border of 2″ and then bind in peach.

Suggestions?

Many of the wonderful creations have been completed and mailed to their new homes for the Spring Booms Mini Quilt Swap. Below are a few of the mini quilts. Check out the Flickr group to see more of these beauties.

Reminder: Your mini quilt should be mailed by June 21, 2009.