Austin House Mini Quilts

All of us Down Under are lucky enough to have Carolyn Friedlander visiting Australia at the moment. I have been known to use her fabrics just a tad:

The Plus Side (quilt pattern) by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts. Made in Carolyn Friedlander's Carkai fabric line

Go West - a modern quilt pattern from Bonjour Quilts

Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts makes a mini quilt with the Sweet Stars quilt pattern by Peta of She Quilts Alot

SewingUpdate1

She is one of my favourite fabric designers and I was so happy to snag a spot at one of her workshops a couple of weekends ago.

Carolyn lead us through her Austin House Quilt pattern, which is a very achievable foundation paper pieced pattern.

Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt

When I first saw the quilt my eye probably twitched. All those little pieces. FPP. Arrgh!

Carolyn guided the class through the FPP process and it was nowhere near as hard as I was expecting. By the second house I was actually enjoying myself, dang nabbit!

Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt

I decided to turn my two houses into mini quilts (for my future mini quilt wall – you know, the one I’ll have when I finally get my own sewing room).

Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt

If you’d like to do the same as I’ve done here:

add 1-1/4″ background strips to the top and sides of your house block.

add a 4-1/2″ strip of ground to the bottom of the block.

bind with 2-1/4″ binding strips.

Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt

I spray basted these (so easy!) and gave them a quick iron to set the spray. The quilting is straight and dense – it adds some lovely texture to the pieces. I used a hera marker to mark 6-8 lines across the mini quilt and then used my walking foot to line up against them.

Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt

I backed my minis with more of Carolyn’s Carkai fabric and enjoyed hand stitching my binding while watching a cinematic, thought-provoking movie Transformers Prime (the 5 yr old got to the remote before me, sigh).

Austin House by Carolyn Friedlander as a mini quilt

I had a wonderful time at Carolyn’s class and would thoroughly recommend you attend one if you have the chance!

Speaking of Carolyn Friedlander – her new, 6 piece, linen/cotton fabric line called Euclid is gorgeous. My next pattern (sneak peek below) will feature a sample made from Euclid and Essex linen….a winning combo!

Deco Diamonds quilt by Bonjour Quilts in Carolyn Friedlander's Euclid fabric

The pattern is called Deco Diamonds and I’m working hard to have it out before Christmas. Wish me luck! – and don’t forget to subscribe to be the first to know about it.

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