Cotton and Steel Mini Quilt Swap

I joined another Instagram swap a few months ago. On IG I mostly follow other quilters and crafters - which make up a large, very interactive and social group that have lots of fun activities. The Sew Together Bag Swap I did previously, was similar in design. Everyone signs up for the swap on IG. The organizer of then pairs everyone up, and you make a project and/or gift for the other person. Sometimes it's a secret swap, and sometimes it isn't. 

This particular swap was secret. We were to make a mini quilt (generally considered to be 24" square or less) for our partner using fabrics by the Cotton and Steel designers. Since these are lately some of my absolute favorite fabrics - I couldn't resist signing up! 

Again - I'm playing catch-up with this post, because this project was finished and delivered around a month ago. 

My partner turned out to be Holly - the owner of PineNeedles - which is one of my absolute favorite local quilt shops! Can we talk about pressure?!! How do you make something for someone who has access to whatever they want in the fabric world?? 

She said she liked the colors pink, mustard, mint, and navy - so I used that as a guide. The center star is a free foundation paper-pieced pattern called Ice Star. You can download it here, if interested. I sized it down from 24" square to 18" square for this project. 

The border is also paper pieced. It's called Hummingbird - found here - and is originally 5" square. I sized the blocks down to 3" square (so itty-bitty!) and used a bunch of different fabrics to make it look sort of "sparkly." I also played up the "sparkly" theme by using some of the C+S metallic fabrics in the border and binding. 

Overall, I think it turned out pretty great. 

The other fun thing about my partner being local, was that I was able to deliver it in person. I packed it all up with a few extras, drove down to the shop (after calling to make sure she was there), and surprised her! ...And then I did a little shopping... ;) It's a good thing the shop is ~45 mins away, or I'd be there much too often!! 

If you are interested in seeing any of the in-progress shots of this, or any of my other projects - or to see the amazing mini quilt I received in return (which made top 13 of the swap and is currently in Atlanta being judged by the C+S designers!!) - check out my Instagram feed. I tend to post there much more often than here - it's just so much faster and more convenient.