My Small Study: Blogger's Quilt Festival Miniature Quilt Entry

Here's my second entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side, this one for the miniature category. (You can read about my first entry, in the scrap quilt category, here.)

I made this mini (measuring approximately 45" in perimeter) at a "Small Studies" workshop with Gwen Marston back in April--what a great day!

I chose to use several of sea-colored solids for my small study, along with olive green, two creams, and a tiny check. Since I don't actually live by the sea, photographing this piece outside with some plant life seemed like a good second choice!

The workshop was fantastic, as was Gwen herself. She demonstrated how to make different types of "parts" and then figure out which ones would go together to create a small study.

A close-up of some of my favorite parts:

Me with Gwen at the end of the workshop:

I used a single fold binding to finish it off--I love how quickly binding goes on such a small piece!

Thanks for stopping by!

Small Studies with Gwen Marston

The second workshop I took with Gwen Marston was on Small Studies. 

This was our "textbook": 

 (I plan to do lots of studying of its beautiful pages...!)

And these were our study guides--more than a dozen of Gwen's own Small Studies, laid out on a table for us to admire, touch and find inspiration. Ahhh....

I was very excited for this class and had no idea how hard it would be. Good hard, but still. The previous day, during the Liberated Medallions workshop, I had a plan and a vision from the start. On this day, I sewed steadily, but didn't feel that I really had a plan in mind, or a vision, until probably the last two hours from the day. It's not how I'm used to working, but it was a good way to stretch myself and my creative process. 

Gwen shared a few tutorials for different "parts" to make and then set us loose. I had chosen an ocean-inspired color palette of solids and one tiny checkerboard print. I made probably 10 different parts and then started fitting them together. 

I started here:

And I'll also say that it's a good thing that straight lines were not a requirement for this project. Nothing like teeny tiny piecing to make you realize that your 1/4" seam is not as perfect as it could be! But this project was all about embracing wonky!

I didn't take nearly enough process shots, but here you can see some of my "parts." (Some of these didn't make it into the final piece--they're ready for my next small study!)

Here's my final piece, finished as the class ended. Whew!

And a few close-ups off my favorite parts:

And of course, the teacher-pupil-project photo!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Gwen is just wonderful. I enjoyed every second of both of these workshops!

Not a great photo, but here's a sampling of the Small Studies created by the quilters in our class. They're all so different, but equally neat! Can't wait to make more!