And now it is July… I saw a meme that said perhaps the person who said that “Hindsight is 20/20” was actually a time traveller referring to this year. Certainly makes sense! For those who haven’t seen the news elsewhere, we have recently found out that we need to move, and so my life is now a chaotic mess of boxes and tubs and bits and pieces everywhere. Oh, and did I mention it’s also school holidays here? And my city, Melbourne, is experiencing a second wave of the virus. So yes, 2020 just keeps on with its theme. As such, this shall be short post!
BUY A BOOK
If you’re wanting to get your hands on a copy of Mini Masterpieces for yourself, I have signed copies of Mini Masterpieces available in store. Our move won’t interrupt postage for these babies.
JULY – SIMPLE CURVES
And we are on to the curves section! The curves section starts with simple curves – the basic quarter-arc Drunkards Path block. It’s a classic, curved quilt block, and a great place to start when learning to piece curves.
The Simple Curves sampler block is great for practising:
- Working with templates
- Curved piecing
Note: There is an errata for the templates on page 109 for this quilt block – download the correct templates here. The book templates are the correct size, so the block will still work, but it would look a bit different from the pictured block.
Image by Page + Pixel for Lucky Spool
The Square Dance mini quilt is also good for trying out:
- Fabric contrast
- Working with acrylic templates
JULY PRIZES
To enter, you can either post a photo of your month’s project in the Blossom Heart Quilts group on Facebook in this month’s photo album (not sure how to do that? Click here to find out how), or post it on Instagram using the QAL hashtag #MiniMasterpiecesQAL. Either method is acceptable, just be sure to do it by July 31st, 2020 (in your timezone). Monthly winners will be selected at random, and announced by updating this post + in the Facebook group on August 3, 2020.
For all the QAL details including prize eligibility, read this post here.
Block Prize
If you’re sewing along making the sampler blocks this year, that’s awesome! Each month, there’ll be a mix of patterns, notions, and other little goodies on offer. This month, the prize is a PDF pattern bundle of my two Little Liberties patterns – mini quilts designed to use fat sixteenths (a common precut size of Liberty fabric), Entwined and Cinque Terre.
Quilt Prize
If you’re making mini quilts or some other type of fully finished product with the mini quilt pattern or turning the sampler block into a finished product (pillow, bag, zippered pouch, etc), this month’s prize is a Liberty Society bundle + a Liberty needle minder from Ava & Neve.
WINNERS
Congratulations to Sue for winning the block prize.
And to Anastasia for winning the quilt prize.
What you need
- A copy of Mini Masterpieces – you can buy a copy from these various stockists, and signed copies from me here
- A sewing machine (or hand sewing supplies!) and basic quilting supplies
- Your favourite fabrics – all the fabric requirements are listed on pages 59-60 for the block and mini quilt
Recommended
- Erasable fabric marker
- 28mm rotary cutter
- 3″, 4″, 5″ drunkards path acrylic templates
TIPS FOR SIMPLE CURVES
When you work with templates, and especially curved templates, it’s best if you use a smaller rotary cutter like a 28mm, to more smoothly cut around the corners. If you don’t have a small rotary cutter, another option is to use an erasable fabric marker to trace the templates onto the fabric and use fabric scissors to cut out the fabric.
Simple Curves sampler quilt block by @modernhandcraft
You can also use acrylic quilting templates for the sampler block (3″) and mini quilt (4″). For the mini quilt, you can also use a 5″ template set for the larger blocks, and then trim to 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance from the quarter-circle piece.
Square Dance mini quilt by @janepipkeandherpins for Ava & Neve
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments and I’ll respond to you there.
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MichelleinScotland says
I’ve just bought your book (I’m still waiting for it to be delivered.)after reading about you in the British quilting magazine Love Patchwork and Quilting and completely separately I had decided that I needed to improve my curved piecing. I’ve tried a few times and the blocks look fine individually but when I put them together the seams don’t meet.