Mini Madness: Three 6"x6" mini art quilts

 Left to right: "Poppy Power," "Beach Time," and "Summer Barn," all 6"x6"x1", made by Pam Geisel, March 2016

This month the Island Batik Ambassador's are creating miniature pieces for #MiniMadnessIB Challenge! The guidelines were simple, the finished pieces must be smaller than 24" x 24" and can use any of the fabric that we've received so far. And since this is my second year as an ambassador, I've had three shipments of fabric, so plenty of choices.

Also, Village Artisans, the local artist co-op that I belong to, are having an exhibit of pieces that measure 6" x 6". Voila, two birds, one stone. I came up with some 6" x 6" designs then I pulled out all of my Island Batik fabric and after auditioning it all, I whittled it down to the chose few.

Coincidentally, the fabrics I used came from three different collections, each collection from a different shipment. The "California Creamery" jelly roll pre-cuts came this Spring, the "Sea Salt Sandy" fat quarters (the rainbow colors on the right) came last Fall, and the mini pre-cuts at the bottom, with pieces that were 3" x 10", came last Spring.

While I love all fabric, I really adore pre-cuts. Perhaps it's because you get more fabric choices with them. Each piece is smaller, but I don't tend to use large pieces anyway, and I also have difficulty cutting into larger pieces, unless it's fabric that I bought for a specific project.

The Sea Salt Sandy fabric came as fat quarters. I just love the visual texture in these.

Here's a closer look at the finished pieces:

 

In "Poppy Power," the blue sky and the bottom three green pieces were from the mini pre-cuts. The top green pieces is a Sea Salt Sandy, as are the three red poppies.

I quilted thread somewhat vertically to represent other flower stems, couched some blue to green variegated yarn for the three flower stems, and added some red seed beads for poppies in the background.

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In "Beach Time" the three sand fabrics were from the "California Creamery" jelly roll and the three water fabrics came from the Sea Salt Sandy collections.

I couched some funky, hand-woven cream-colored yarn for the surf, hand sewed a star fish with embroidery thread, and hand-sewed some white seed beads on the beach near the surf.

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In "Summer Barn" I revisited the barn from my Early Morning Nine Patch quilt. The background fabrics are the same as in "Poppy Power" (and have now all been used) and the barn sides and roof are from the Sea Salt Sandy collection.

I couched some yarn where the land meets the sky and around the bottom of the barn. I'm note sure if the designers had anything particular in mind when they create these, but they made a wonderful barn and roof, not to mention poppies and beach water.

All three pieces are wrapped around a 6" x 6" frame so they are all just under 1" deep.

More about Poppy Power, Beach Time, and Summer Barn