I decided to test the waters to see how people liked it by making a mini quilt using Lizzy House’s new Printmaking line for Andover fabrics. They sent me the fabric as part of their QuiltCon 2017 booth, so it all worked out perfectly.

It will be sold as a mini quilt pattern, but I will be including diagrams and more to show how to make a twin, full, queen and more. I seriously can not wait until to show my sample quilt! It’s epic, and I don’t use that word often.

Just keep an eye out here for the exact release date.

In other news, the Pixelated Circles Quilt is being printed right now and hard copies will be available after May 8th. I will also be selling acrylic cutting templates for each size individually, or as a pack of four. All preorders can be found in my shop!

First though. let’s look at two of the amazing quilt tops my testers sent me photos of! Maybe it will get you in the mood to try the pattern out?!

This first top was pieced by Leah Corbin / @leahrene on InstaGram. She was beyond helpful when it came to the little mix ups with the pattern and such. She did a beautiful job piecing these nine blocks together and I am in love with her use of patterned fabric! You’ll probably be seeing more of Leah’s work here, because I’m totally asking her to test more pieces down the road.

This next quilt top is by the lovely Holly Hughes of the blog Holly Gets Quilty / @hollygetsquilty on InstaGram. She tested the pattern for me while also making it as a quilt for the Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap! How brilliant is that? Kill two birds with one stone! So that means that she used only Alison Glass fabric as the sides and then Essex Linen as the background. Im in love with it. She will be sharing photos of the quilted up version soon, so once she does, I’ll share it here too! (I really really cant wait to see it)

I have also received a handful of finished block photos and some in progress shots. I think they all need their own blog post though, so keep your eyes peeled for those. I’ve seen the photos, its worth the wait.

Now back to the super technical, less sappy, pattern stuff…

I am calling this pattern the Spinning Icosahedron Mini Quilt. It’s name comes from the fact that it is an Icosahedron (20 sided Polyhedron) that is spinning and toppling, so you can see 18 sides of it. You can see this “spinning and toppling” by picking one triangle and following it through the 9 blocks until it disappears.

Like most of my patterns, this is a foundation paper piecing pattern that is broken up into many pieces. I have made a system to help keep all the sides and colors in order, plus I included a coloring page as a helpful guide. I have tried to make it as easy as possible to assemble.

Now onto the question I get from everyone…

“What size is it?”

Well, It is 24″ square when finished if you use the pattern as is. I know that is small, and you can’t really cover yourself with it, but it’s a great mini quilt/doll quilt/pillow. Plus, you can use the blocks individually OR change the lineup a bit and maybe only use three as a long pillow? Maybe use 5 or 6 as a table runner? Or maybe have a strip going down a quilt that is all 9 and then the rest is solid? I bet there are many ways these nine blocks can be used!

I have plans to release an 18″ block version, that would create a 54″ square quilt within the next month or so. It’s finished, I’m just waiting until I can stitch up a sample (its a 54 page pattern, with lots of taping, it’s been rough finding time to work on it with everything else going on these days). In the meantime, there is a work around. If your printer allows you to enlarge documents and then tile them over multiple pages, then you can technically make the blocks 16″ finished with a quilt 48″ square (or bigger by adding a border). If you are super lucky and have an awesome printer than you can probably go even larger.

Is there any interest in pre-printed paper patterns to help with this size thing? I’ve researched it a bit, and would love to go that direction eventually.

Ok, whew, I believe that’s it when it comes to all the technical stuff. If you buy the pattern and want to share photos, OR you are just curious what everyone else is making, then you should check out the hashtag #artschooldropoutpatterns and/or #spinningicosahedronquilt on InstaGram. You can also add any project photos to the Art School Dropout Pattern Flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/miniasd/ .

I am super excited to get this pattern out there into the world, but I am also really excited to share the next pattern in the works. It’s not another spinning object, though I am thinking of doing an entire series!!

Happy sewing everyone!! I am going to go crash now…

The design seriously haunted me for months. I felt like I HAD to make it. It NEEDED to be a banner on my wall. I drew a paper pieced pattern of it into my sketchbook and put it aside for my upcoming “winter sewing months”.

Side Note: Apparently I prefer sewing in the winter, and knowing this has made my whole work schedule easier to handle. Sewing in the winter, jewelry & casting in the summer. It’s been working perfectly and I cast so much during the summer that I can continuously add to the shop all winter long!

So now back to the banner…

Two weeks ago I finally sat down at my computer and digitized the pattern i’d sketched up. It was a little big, but I didn’t mind taping together the paper. I went around searching for fabrics that complimented my house and then sat down to piece it all together. It took me about two hours total and I was so excited to hang it up!!!

I just happened to have a nice blank spot in the library! I added some striped bakers twine and glued a little geometric piece to the screw holding it up. I love it!!

I figured someone else may want to make one of these for their wall too, so I put together my simple paper pieced pattern as a FREE PDF. You will need a basic knowledge of paper piecing to make this btw. If you are comfortable with sewing but don’t know this technique yet, I suggest searching for some videos on YouTube, that’s how I taught myself. Fresh Lemons Quilts blog also has a great tutorial if you’re not into watching videos

If you do make a banner, I’d love to see it. Just send me a message!

The next morning I woke up before CT and went straight to my computer, I drafted a paper pieced pattern so I could test out my idea. I was very happy with the results, and as you can see from the photo on the right above, it worked!! I was so excited I set out to make 24 more!

Well, after searching through my fabric stash, I just couldn’t find 24 fabrics that matched the first one I did. So I narrowed it down to 12 total. I made each house block 10″ square, which meant I should end up with a quilt about 30″x40″ if I didn’t add a border, and a bit bigger if I did.

I spent a few days finishing up the other 11 blocks, doing four at a time (I feel like I get up to iron less and it takes less time, to me). I was on a roll and was set out to finish this quilt as soon as I could. So last Tuesday I finished all 12 blocks! I laid them out on the floor and didn’t quite like the set up as all house outlines. So I turned a few around, and a couple upside down, and ended up with a bunch of arrows pointing all different directions. Perfect!! I also decided at that point that I was going to add 2″ white strips in between all of the blocks and a 2″ white border around the entire edge. Now it was 40″x50″, a nice lap sized quilt. I needed one of those.

I pieced and quilted the entire thing Wednesday afternoon, and then added binding Friday Morning. I took photos Saturday, and here I am on Monday showing you all my finished quilt…

I’m calling it the “Which Way Is Up” quilt.

I LOVE the way it came out, and I love that each time I use the pattern it will be a totally different quilt! I can subtract the white and do all solids, so the arrows (or houses) will be subtle and surprise you! or I can switch the white and the patterned fabrics? Or I could be super crazy and actually have them all houses!! Ha.

Well, I’m so interested to see all of the different ways you could make this quilt too, so you can find the pattern in my shop!

I’m not including instructions on how to paper piece. I have no idea how to write it out in words… Yet.  If you’ve never tried it, I suggest searching for some videos on YouTube, that’s how I taught myself. Fresh Lemons Quilts blog also has a great tutorial if your not into watching videos.

If any of you do make a project using this pattern, I would love to see it (and maybe even share it on here).

I feel like I’m on a quilting kick now, so expect to see more sewing and a bit less of everything else…