Mini Quilts

I'm part of a Facebook group that is all about quilting, sewing and creating.  It's a great group of supportive women, all at different stages in their quilting journies and who are able to offer advice, support and also teach each other about different techniques, etc.  If you'd said to me ten years ago I'd be involved in this sort of group, I'd have laughed at you!  But now, I check that page several times a day, share stuff on it, comment on others posts, it's fabulous!!

Within the group, we had an organised swap of mini quilts - 18" square-ish.  It was the first time I'd ever made something like that, never even considered making anything like that to be honest. 

Thank goodness for Pinterest!!  I was able to search on there for ideas as to what to do.  I settled on a tree with applique leaves that I ironed on using fusible webbing and then sewed very close to the edge with a small straight stitch and my zipper foot.
 

 I was also able to make the label for the back with my machine's script feature - it has three different styles of writing letters and both capital and lower-case as well as matching numbers.  Very handy as it makes really neat labels! 

I went with the zigzag type binding because it had all the colours I'd used in the leaves and didn't seem too bright that it would detract from the quilt itself.

In return I received a lovely floral mini quilt from my partner with lots of colourful flowers appliqued on the front.  It's really vibrant and bright, using purple batik fabric around the outside.

And, of course the signature label on the back to remind me who I received it from and when.  You can see the batik a bit closer in the second photo too, showing how vibrant it really is and with all the other colours throughout, as is custom of batik fabrics.