Doll Quilt Swap 8 Finished!

Well folks, here it is. It may or may not look like much to you, but I have an awful lot of time invested in this project. In fact, I'm lovingly naming this quilt "Patience Buider". For starters I picked up a copy of EQ6 a few weeks back, and have been trying to go through the lessons to teach myself how to make the most of the program. I am  a visual learner, and am tired of ripping out seams because the color isn't quite right. So, to begin my Doll Quilt Swap  project I went through the first two lessons on EQ6. I found the software easy to work with, and was able to make many adjustments to my project before I even cut the fabric.

This is my final design using a charm pack called "Astor Manor" from Moda. I was even able to upload the exact fabric into EQ6 from the Moda website. Very cool!

I aslo purchased the book "Miniatures in Minutes" by Terri Sandelin. Her book contains instructions for paper-pieced miniature projects.( Hmmm... sounds perfect for a doll quilt.) I found her book to be very helpful and  informative. So based on her techniques, I set out to design my own miniature quilt.

First, I started with a large sheet of freezer paper and taped it to my cutting mat. (Terri's book advises against using freezer paper, but I was at home in the middle of a snow storm and wanted to get started.) I marked out a grid nine squares across and marked off dashed lines to allow for folding.

Using traditional paper-piecing methods, I began stitching small squares of fabric to the

unmarked side of the freezer paper.

When all the squares were sewn to the paper, it looked like this. Then I began folding the paper onto the lines and stitching the rows together.

When I was finished, the back looked like this.

Then began the tedious task of tearing off the freezer paper. Herein lies the problem with using freezer paper. It does not tear easily! What a pain in the neck to get this stuff off! The biggest issue was that unless you are extreemly careful, it is easy to distort the stitches in an attempt to remove the paper.

When I finally did get the paper off, my core block was 9" x 9". ( I have to insert a funny comment from my husband. I showed him the above block, and he said it's really going to take alot of effort to make a quilt out of that. He thought I was making this into a bed quilt! LOL!)

Once I had the core of the quilt assembled, I began to work on the side pieces. Each one contains a miniature nine patch block.

Then I cut triangluar background fabric to fill in the rest of the area.

Once the side pieces were all assembled, I attached them to the core block and squared it up.

After the block was square, I added the borders, and pinned it for machine quilting.

For fun, I added a few blocks to the back of the quilt, along with a quilt label,

  and a sleeve to hang the quilt. The quilt label is under the sheet of white paper.

Close up of quilting on the back.

And here is the final product, measuring 20" x 20".

 Now just waiting for the shipping deadline to arrive!

Hope you enjoyed my little journey with this miniature quilt.

I'd like to leave you with six things I've learned from the this project.

1. Never, ever use freezer paper for paper-piecing projects. (Even if it is in the middle of a snowstorm!)

2. Choose fabrics with tiny prints for miniature quilts. Charm packs have some very large designs.

3. EQ6 is wonderful for visual learners, and worth every penny I paid for it. Can't wait to learn more.

4. You can invest as much time and effort into a miniature quilt as you can into a bed quilt.

5. I need to get my machine cleaned.

6. I really need a new pair of glasses!