Courthouse Steps Mini Quilt // Finished Modern Quilt

Modern Mini ChallengeWelcome to the last stop on the Modern Mini tour. Are you working on a mini for Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilt's Modern Mini Challenge? If not, you have plenty of time before March 5—all of the information on the contest & prizes is at the end of this post.Modern Mini Challenge

I have two minis to share this morning, and the story behind them reads a bit like the children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. When I was in college, I lived an hour and a half from my dad’s parents—I loved spending time at their house and was always grateful my grandma would make the long drive to pick me up. On one visit, she and her sisters invited me to help them hand quilt a quilt for a granddaughter who was getting married. It was a whole-cloth quilt, and I’m pretty sure I did more harm than good with my hand quilting.  Fast forward 15 years to last October, when I was excited to learn how to hand quilt from Karen at a DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting (@ the Lincoln Memorial, no less).  I have been meaning to finish my mini Courthouse Steps for some time, which because of the hand-quilting reminds me of my grandmother, and in turn, the whole-cloth wedding quilt.

When I heard about the Modern Mini Challenge, I knew I wanted to make a mini whole-cloth quilt to hang next to my hand quilted mini  But I knew I didn't want to hand quilt this one! After a few failed attempts, I decided to add a pieced section to my (almost) wholecloth quilt. I am quite happy with the way both minis turned out, the hand quilted Courthouse Steps and the machine quilted Almost Whole-cloth quilt.  I’m hanging them in my sewing area (newly redone!), and they make me smile every time I see them. And who knows, perhaps there is a whole-cloth quilt in my future...

 

 courthouse mini quilt
Cross quilting 2

 

Modern Mini Challenge

A few other mini quilts I made in 2011, just because :)

DQS 10
 DQS 10
Pillow Talk Swap-finished!
PTS 6
Ticker Tape I Spy Quilt
DQS 11 Finished
DQS 11

Jennifer's Modern Mini challenge--make a mini and enter it on March 5 on her blog. Be inspired to try something new or something challenging!  There are 5 different winners--my favorite is that her husband, James, is choosing one of the winners. Wild card!Contest Rules:

1. Create a modern mini quilt or mug rug - only one entry per person
2. Enter your mini quilt or mug rug in the linky party at Ellison Lane Quilts on Monday, March 5.
You do NOT have to have a blog to enter. You may link a picture from your Flickr account.
3. Your entry (blog post or Flickr description) should include the size of the item
The (5) WinnersJames' ChoiceViewer's Choice: Mug rugs (mini mini's)Viewer's Choice: Mini QuiltsLuck of the draw (Random Number Generator chooses 2 winners)
Prizes!
Both Viewer's Choice Winners will receive a fat quarter bundle of the FULL Line of Flea Market Fancy reprint by Denyse Schmidt. No joke.
James’ Choice Winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop
Both Luck of the Draw Winners will receive a $75 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop