Thursday, March 3, 2016

Economy Patch Album Mini

There's no place like the third quarter of the 1800's to find your inspiration for a modern quilt, amiright? Please pardon the snakiness, and hear me out.
The Economy Patch Album Block captured my attention as I ambled amongst the Indigo Quilts exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. My eyes scanned its expansive negative space, minimalist fabric selection, miniature blocks composing a larger block, entralized plus element, and contrast of straight-line quilting with elaborate feathers. Then and there, the quilt was pinned on the Pinterest board of  my mind. And because, (Who an I kidding?) I have a poor memory, I made a sketch on a little notepad scrounged from my diaper bag. Photographs were forbidden because a book featuring the quilts is available for purchase. However, if you want to see my muse, Google's got it covered.
In retrospect, it seems like sacrilege that I didn't use Alison Glass Indigos. I think you'll forgive me though, given how pretty the Mochi line by Rashida Coleman-Hale from Cotton + Steel turned out. I  made each paper-pieced Economy Block 3" in an effort to keep the overall size of the mini, well mini.
I like to use flexible chopping mats from Dollar Tree and a wet-erase marker to try out quilting designs ahead of time.
Then I marked out a few increments to attempt to keep the scale of my free-motion designs fairy consistent.
I used an assortment of marking pens, with varying levels of success. I go into greater detail about this in the March Lessons Learned Linky post.
My predominant approach to the quilting was creating frames that echoed the blocks, and filling them in with whatever struck my fancy.
The motivating factor for creating this quilt (other than that making pretty quilt stuff is just my thing) was the Electric Quilt Company's February Contest sponsored by The Fat Quarter Shop. Mr. Random did not favor me, but that's fine because I still got to make a pretty quilt. Besides, there are ten remaining contests in case I want to tempt fate.
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8 comments:

  1. This looks wonderful. Although I'm sure it would have looked beautiful in indigo I think the fabric you chose gives the design a lot of movement.

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  2. It is so beautiful!! Great pattern, and your quilting is just wonderful!! Hugs, H

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  3. These little blocks are so great! I love the layout and quilting you chose!

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  4. I love your inspiration! I've been spending a mini vacation reading about the origin of medallion quilts in the 1800's, which your mini isn't exactly, but puts me in mind of. When we think 'There is nothing new under the sun', using historical pieces for a starting point really is a good idea. And doing a mini for any experimental project--a grand idea.


    Julie @ Pink Doxies

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  5. What a great quilt! I love that you filled them with whatever struck your fancy!

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  6. Beautiful! It does look very modern, and the fabrics are gorgeous. I love all the quilting details too.

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  7. What a cute mini! I love the blocks and the quilting.

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  8. Oh, my goodness! This came out absolutely beautiful! I love those flexible chopping mats from Dollar Tree! They make great templates, too! You inspire me! I'm glad I popped over from Needle and Foot!

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