Disney Mini Quilt – Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

Late last year, I managed to find out about the Disney Mini Quilt Swap just in time to sign up! I had shared a bit about my plans a couple of months ago, and in the end, decided to go with my Fairy Tale Castle pattern. I had planned on making it as Cinderella’s castle, like at DisneyLand, until I learned that the Cinderella version is only here in Tokyo and at Walt Disney World. My swap partner goes to the California one, which has Aurora’s castle, aka Sleeping Beauty’s castle. So browsed Google Images and was greatly inspired by this photograph, with the pink building walls that looked like they had a bit of an ombre effect and the golden accents on the stone walls.

I loved the various nighttime photographs, with the different lighting effects, but decided to instead keep the daylight walls and add fireworks in the sky! I used a Botanics print for the stone walls and the gold accents, Alison Glass for the gate, Simply Color for the coat of arms, a Blush (Bonnie & Camille) for the first storey, Lace Elements by AGF for the second Storey, and a Japanese print for the third. The windows are by Vintage Dreamin’ by Jeni Baker and the roofs are Angela Walters, I think? And that stunning background print is also an Art Gallery Fabrics print… I think Bohemian Soul? It’s at least 2-3 years old now!

In the original pattern, I had a window above the gate, but Sleeping Beauty’s has a coat of arms, hence that yellow print – aptly chosen for both being a bit golden in colour, and also being leaves and thus so perfect for Sleeping Beauty! You might also notice that the pink walls are also viney or florally in pattern, adding to that Sleeping Beauty castle covered in vines effect!

Quilting it was the most fun! I kept the stone walls straight lined to emphasise the stone effect, and then used a loopy swirly vine-esque FMQ for the pink walls. I did a diagonal cross-hatch for the gate, roughly following the lines in the print, and the golden accents were tight squiggles up and down.

On the back, I added hanging pockets in the corners (because it’s a mini and thus for the wall, right?!) and a label.

I used this Cotton + Steel print in my Daphne bag, so I used the rest of it for the backing – more fireworks! And some more of the Vintage Dreamin’ for the binding.

And of course what is a mini quilt swap, especially a Disney one, without extra goodies?! My swap partner’s name is Jessie, and thus has an obvious affinity for Jessie in Toy Story, so I popped in a Jessie Pez dispenser and some Toy Story stickers. I included a little note on some Mickey notepaper from the post office – peanuts are my state’s specialty! Plus some Disney washi tape from Daiso, of all places*! I also picked up some Mickey chopsticks when at DisneySea last month, and used the shopping bag to wrap it all up in.

It all arrived last week and Jessie was so thrilled with it! I’m glad, because I had so much fun making it! I’m still waiting for mine to arrive, but I’ll be sure to share it when it does. The hashtag #disneyminiquiltswap has been so inspiring to check out! I hope it’s run again – I’ll definitely be in on that if it is!

*Funny story – I also picked up some of the washi for myself and so had used it to decorate the package a bit. Jessie commented that she had been wishing she could carefully peel it off or cut it out to use/keep, but then opened it up to find a roll all for herself!

I wasn’t the only one making the Fairy Tale Castle pattern for the Disney swap! @craftyjennifer also made one for her partner – just look at Rapunzel’s hair!