Many years ago I was fascinated by miniature quilts (miniature being 10”-12” quilts) and made a lot of them. They appealed to me for many reasons, but the main reason was the sense of accomplishment at having something completed in a relatively short period of time. And with three small children, that was no simple feat.

I’ve been drawn to them again, and it seems I’m not the only one. I’ve seen patterns for miniature quilts popping up a lot lately by many different designers. Most of these quilts are not as small as I used to make them, but I’m over that now and 1” increments in a block are fine with me.

I looked through some back issues of Quiltmaker for inspiration and was drawn to Birds in Flight in QM Sept/Oct ’00. The main block is a simple Four Patch that finishes at 6”. Using 1” increments would make a 2” block – perfect size for me to work with.

Birds in Flight

I’m using pink and brown scraps left over from Raspberry Truffles, in our May/June ’09 issue and decided on a 16” x 20” wall quilt (8 x 10 block setting in a barn raising arrangement) to hang above the bed.

2 of my blocks

The top is pieced and thinking this would make a great take-along project, I’m going to hand quilt it – something else I haven’t done for years.

my quilt top

I’ll post a picture when it’s done – just don’t look too closely at my stitches; I’m a little rusty.

Are you interested in seeing patterns for miniature quilts in Quiltmaker? Post a comment and let me know what you think. If you’d like more information about this quilt, post that here as well. I’d be happy to help.