I started this little mini quilt back in November to test out an idea I had for a larger version. I hand drew the mountain pieces on some card stock and using the English Paper Piecing method, I had stitched all those little pieces together using mostly scraps.

It only took me a few days to finish the “mountain”, but after that I was stumped on what to do next. So I taped it to my workroom wall and figured I’d finish it when I had an idea.

Fast forward to last week when, well, I had an idea! I thought about teaching myself Free Motion Quilting, and doing some fancy little moves here and there to mimic the fragmented design in the negative space to the right. I bought a new foot for my machine and I tested out my idea on some scrap fabric.

Let’s just say it didn’t look like I wanted it to. I had taught myself the technique correctly, but the technique didn’t give me the results I wanted. However the frustration over this helped me come up with the idea of hand quilting dashed lines instead. I ran to the craft store and picked up some DMC Pearl Cotton Variegated Thread in Size 5 to test this out. After quickly quilting some 45 degree lines across the entire piece, I sat down on my couch after CT went to bed, turned on a movie, and started stitching.

It came out exactly as I hoped on the front, even if the back looks horribly ridiculous, and I’m now hooked! I want to add little hand quilted details on every mini quilt I make.

I’m also really excited about the fact that I made a mini quilt that I GET TO KEEP! It’s going right on the wall outside my workroom along with the “J” mini from the last Schnitzel and Boo swap I took part in.

This whole process is making me second guess not trying out the larger version too. So maybe you’ll see that in a year or so?

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