Take Away

It feels like it's been a while since I've participated in a Curated Quilts mini quilt challenge, but now definitely felt like the right time. For the upcoming Half-Square Triangle issue, the theme is "quilts that use subtraction as a design feature." To clarify "subtraction," CQ posted Less is More, and in addition to some clarification, it's a nice little quilt show.



I kind of struggled with a plan for a while, then a glimmer of an idea came to me, which led me to create a single block....



It only made sense to make more blocks (which I did). and then play with them till a firmer plan materialized (which it eventually did). 



I actually had the top all pieced when the thought of a ghost block came to me, and that was really kinda fun to execute. For the first time, I used Aurifil 28wt for machine-quilting, and loved the result. I'll be trying that again. 



The spool I had happened to be the same color as I was using on the mini [#2600. light gray], so that was handy. I did go ahead and use 50wt for the quilting, hoping that would help the ghost block stand out, and I think it did. Rather than do strictly matchstick quilting, as was my original plan, I did a dense organic straight-line, which is one of my favorites to execute.



A faced binding became the way to go when I realized I didn't have enough of the light gray solid left, which would have been my choice for a regular binding. I tried Cotton & Bourbon's method for a change, as I'd noticed it was single-fold, and I thought that might be a good option for a mini. And I think it was!



Oh, and for the backing, I used a favorite print from the deep stash with some bits left on my cutting board. Maybe not the most profound use of fabric ever, but it gave me alot of pleasure.



So, this little quilt finished at 16" square, the maximum size for the challenge. I really debated on whether to crop close to the HSTs or give them room to float, and I obviously settled on the latter.

So I'll get this baby submitted, but no matter what, that was just what I needed. This is exactly why sometimes, it's really fun and freeing to work small.