Mini for Miki

April 29, 2023 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

Last year my guild Chicago MQG held a mini-quilt swap with the Mexico MQG The prompt was to put our partner’s first initial somewhere in the quilt. My partner Miky Zapata mentioned she loves the work of Carolina Oneto so I decided to channel her style for this project. I took Carolina’s on-demand course “Curves and Transparencies” (available on her website) and used the techniques from her class to create this composition (it’s a lowercase cursive m). It was my first time working with transparencies and it was super challenging but fun!

Sadly this mini quilt got lost in the mail somewhere between here and its destination in Mexico. A tiny part of me still hopes it magically resurfaces and makes its way to Miky. But it probably won’t. Still, I enjoyed making it and learning something new. I definitely recommend Carolina’s class!

Chicago Modern Quilt Guild 10th Anniversary Mini

April 09, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

My guild, Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, was supposed to celebrate its 10th anniversary in March 2020 with a party. Obviously we had to cancel that event but we hope to reschedule. And when we do, we’re going to display these 10th anniversary mini quilts, which members made to celebrate the guild and the friendships and connections fostered there. I made this quilt using scraps from the baby quilt I organized for Laura, Mitch, and Fiona. I thought it was fitting to use scraps from a quilt that was made with the help of lots of guild pals. Measures 23” square.

Two Mini Quilts

May 24, 2019 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

This quilt was made for a swap between my guild and the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. My partner didn’t give me any requests, just told me to make whatever my heart desired. So I used scraps from a previous project (my Good Bones mini quilts from my drawing final) and the design was loosely inspired by the Arne Quilt by Rossie Crafts. I did my own quilting on this one and was pretty happy with the outcome.

And another mini for a swap. This time it was a swap within my own guild. Again, my partner left it pretty wide open in terms of what she likes, so I tried to make something that reflects what I see in her: bright, vibrant, energetic. I had fun improving my way through this mini. My partner liked it and it turned out to be a parting gift, as she soon after moved from Chicago to Milwaukee.

Let's Go Outside

January 08, 2016 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

I made this quilt as part of a swap between the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild (of which I am a proud member) and the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. We were assigned partners and asked to make a mini quilt we thought they would like. We could try to assess our partners aesthetic through all the modern stalking methods: Pinterest, Instagram, etc.

Mini quilt for Giedra, measuring about 24" square.

My partner Giedra of Thread n Honey seems to have pretty eclectic taste. She likes color and lots of prints, especially Lizzy House. I took these observations and felt free to get creative with her quilt! I used some little drunkard path blocks that I had leftover from another project, and mixed them with some textured lilac solid I had. I wanted to make some letters, as I often want to do these days, so I needed a phrase. I chose "Let's Go Outside", inspired by a picture in Giedra's instagram feed that she captioned, "Summer still-life. #outsideallday". I can tell she values time with her kids and that they love to spend time outdoors.

The letters I pieced for this quilt were pretty minimal. The e's, for instance, were just squares. I wanted to experiment with making the letters in their most basic form, and letting the quilting express the shape of the letter. I didn't feel confident in executing this myself so I hired Nikki Maroon to execute my vision. She also quilted some outdoorsy images like grass, sun, flowers, and wind. I love the quilting on this little quilt so much. Thank you, Nikki. xoxo

My first quilt swap

January 21, 2015 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

A fine gentleman on instragram recently organized a mini quilt swap and I thought it would be fun to jump in.

I was assigned a partner and commenced stalking her IG feed. She seemed to like subtle colors and beautiful, small scale floral prints. I had recently purchased a some pre-cut London of Liberty florals in a rainbow of colors, so I decided they would be my main fabrics. I decided on a plus quilt. There are so many great design options when laying out a plus quilt, and I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking at inspiring quilts. I ended up basing my layout on this gorgeous quilt by Megan of City Stitches.

I used a variety of whites and greys for my background, since I had them on hand from another project. I wanted to add something a little special, so I decided to make teeny tiny wonky stars for the center of each plus. I tried to use contrasting colors to make each star, but sometimes they ended up blending in with the plus more than I intended. The stars were so small that sometimes the secondary colors in the prints came to the forefront, and the stars didn't stand out as much as I thought they would. It bothered me at first, but then I decided to embrace it as another design element. Some stars that pop out, and some that blend in. I had this quilted by Nikki Maroon and she did a beautiful job. The finished piece measures 24" square.

It was fun to make this quilt and see my partner leaving comments about how much she loved it as I posted progress pics, since she didn't know it was intended for her. I didn't have to worry about whether she would like it. I already knew. I also really enjoyed picking out extras to send with her quilt. Paper Source is an excellent place to buy swap extras, it turns out. I didn't take a picture of those, but I think I sent some washi tape, a notebook, a candle, and some candy.

I received a fabulous quilt from another IG user, which you can see here. All in all, a successful swap. I'll definitely do another when I have the time.