Each month the Island Batik Brand Ambassadors create a quilt based on our challenge theme for that specific month. This month's challenge theme is Mini Love.
Well, as a quilt maker who loves oversized blocks, anything MINI is a challenge for me! But as Kelly Clarkston's lyrics say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". So I started sketching and since I didn't want to do a lot of MINI piecing, I opted for some applique. I'm a huge fan of Dresden's and I discovered that with proper color placement, 3 bladed Dresden's form heart shapes! I Love it... so MINI Dresden's = MINI Love! Here is what my original design looked like.
After printing the patterns, I started selecting fabrics. I swapped out some colors - primarily because I didn't have enough red or aqua to cut all the pieces I needed! But I think the change to the darker purple was a good one.
My Mini Dresden Love is made from a scrappy mix of Island Batik fabrics that I received as an Island Batik Brand Ambassador. The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik and Aurifil. To give the wall hanging some extra loft, I used a scrap of Hobbs Polydown batting that I had laying around.
I tried a few new techniques while I was making Mini Dresden Love. With contrasting color thread I wanted to emphasize the hearts that formed from the two matching color blades. I outline stitched the heart shape and added some straight line fill.
It worked but it's a bit too subtle. I was hoping for a bolder look. Next time I try this I will use a thicker thread for more coverage.
Well there's my Mini Dresden Love and if I don't stop typing this blog post will go from MINI to MAXI :) Thanks for reading if you have made it to the end!
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