Aussie Mini Quilt Swap

A couple of months ago, when the Bonnie & Camille #aussieminiquiltswap popped up in my Instagram feed, I couldn't resist. An opportunity to make a barn style quilt?!! Yes please.I haven't involved in many of these fun little swaps lately, because my etsy shop was keeping me too busy. I've had 2 years of custom orders, which has been a complete blast, but also non stop hectic. This has taken a big toll on my health, and as per doctor's orders, I've been having some long overdue R&R.But no R&R is complete without some sewing, and this seemed like the perfect distraction. That, and I'm allll about those southern American shows like Fixer Upper, and barns.I just love barns, and quilts, and quilts on barns.

This was my fabric pull. But who am I kidding??This is genuinely the only B&C fabric that I owned, and it turned out to be my swap partner's favourite lines. So phew. I was also in raptures that we had the same taste, as that meant I would really really love making it all!There's not much therapy in making something you really dislike...

I settled on modding a version of the Moda Love mini quilt to finish at 20 in. I knew that I wanted to add some twists of my own to the design, so set about playing around with different combinations.

My final layout consisted of some additional split quarter square triangles, which added squares of different sizes into the mix, and gave a really interesting effect.

My favourite part was adding the uneven straight line quilting, to give a lot of visual interest, and draw your eye in different directions. Finished off with a Vintage Picnic binding to frame it beautifully.I quilted it with Aurifil 40wt cotton, and boy was that divine!! This was the first time I've used a 40wt, and I loved the sheen, and the extra definition of the thicker thread.I'm in love!

I had fun taking this mini around my little home town, which is rich in historical old buildings.

This is pinned up with Command strips, and a lot of hoping, that it wouldn't fall down in the mud! My daughter was standing just out of the shot to try and catch it if it fell off, lol.Which brings me to the fun swap extras that I made...I used the left over off cuts from the charm squares to make some scrappy pincushions. Nothing wasted!This was tons of fun to make.

My love of aqua meant that I had a plentiful supply of ribbons and trims on hand already to go to town with!

And I lastly made this covered tape measure, inspired by A Spoonful of Sugar's tutorial.All of this was really hard to part with, so I plan on making another mini quilt with my leftovers.Tune in over the next few days, as I will be sharing all the details on how you can make your own 16 in barn style quilt with the same mods that I did, and also a tutorial on the scrappy pincushion.