Anna Maria Horner + Aurifil Balloon Mini Quilt

Last month, I had the opportunity to receive some fat quarters of Anna Maria Horner’s Passionflower fabric and a coordinating spool of Aurifil thread and have a play. Of course I said yes! Here’s the prints I received, along with a spool of Aurifil 4173.

Around the same time, Sarah of Sarah Ashford Studio asked if I would like to make a block from her latest pattern – Up & Away. When two projects arise like this around the same time, I often try to combine them if possible. And this collection of fabrics turned out to be the perfect match for the pattern!

I’m a little late to sharing this project, as the usual return-from-holiday chaos was also met with a few days of battling illness, but at last I’m sharing this fun mini quilt. The stripe print was perfect to fussy cut for the balloons, and the green print great for the baskets. I was determined to keep the large floral print whole, so that became the backing.

To quilt my mini, I used a range of decorative stitches – one for each balloon and one in the skinny border – to add some fun detail and texture. Aurifil thread works so smoothly for these fancy stitches, with no thread breakages or large lint balls collecting in the machine.

I love how decorative stitch quilting adds another layer of interest to quilts! Especially in mini quilts, and when the quilt pattern features hot air balloons, it’s almost like a postcard full of little detail.

While this colour palette isn’t stereotypical of my quilting, it’s always good fun to challenge yourself and step outside your comfort zone. And when the fabrics all work together so well like Anna’s fabrics do, and the pattern is a quick and easy one like Sarah’s pattern, and the thread just holds it all together so beautifully… well, I do quite enjoy my job.