mini mini Forest Friends

The mini madness continues! Yes, I think I can safely admit to being addicted to making mini mini quilts. These five finishes make it official. You can see my prior mini mini finishes, the mini mini Raccoon and My Pet Hamster here and the mini mini Cougar here.

Although I am certainly not as experienced as some mini mini makers, I've been sharing some other mini mini quilt finishes recently and thought it would be interesting to show the behind the scenes progress of making these mini mini quilts. And to share my experience.

After working on the new Cougar block and making a mini mini quilt for Sarah of Cedar Fork Stitches, for this project, I was inspired to revisit some of the blocks from the original Forest Friends pattern and to transform some of those other woodland animals into mini mini size. 

I took my original pattern for the 8" x 8" blocks and reworked the math to make the blocks each measure 4" x 4" finished size. The MINI Forest Friends pattern I'm sharing today now includes BOTH sizes.

When making a mini mini, I advise you to add generous borders. This provides you with plenty of room for hanging on and for trimming after quilting. 

I trimmed these mini mini's to 6" x 6" allowing for 1" borders.

To add hanging tabs use some 2" squares that match your backing fabric and fold them on the diagonal. Sew them onto the corners before adding the binding. Be sure to have the raw edges even with the edge of your mini mini quilt. 

The binding on a mini mini can be a little intimidating. I found a single fold binding tutorial on Crazy Mom Quilts blog here. But I did a mitered joint for my binding. I measured the perimeter and then added the amount for the overlap to miter. This was the length of my binding:

6" sides x 4 = 24" plus width of binding 1.5" = 25.5"

After applying the binding to the back, I then pressed and folded to the front and pinned the binding in place before stitching. On full size quilts, I normally sew my binding to the back, then fold to the front and finish with top stitching by machine from the front. But I've found that I like the look of the thinner binding on the front for these tiny "works of art".

When I have folded the binding to the back and pressed with the iron, I then pin it in place. I found it easiest to pin in the centers first and then fold and pin the corners last.

This was my first time using the Stitch in the Ditch foot that came with my little Janome. I am not really surprised. I had been quilting for at least a year before I found my 1/4" foot with guide. Now I am sure I won't want to stop using either of these handy feet.

Using the Stitch in the Ditch foot allowed for a really neat and tidy stitch along the binding edge on the front of the quilts.

And here is how they look from the back.....

To make these blocks, I chose the same fabrics I used to make the full size blocks for my original Forest Friends finishes that can be seen here. But for these half size blocks I wanted something special for the binding and used the very last of one of my favourites. This Birch Tree (from the "North by Northwest" collection designed by Maria Kalinowski of Kanvas Studio for Benartex) binding was first used on the Wolf quilt I made for my son back in 2013.

Of course I quilted organic wavy lines. With Superior Threads' Omni in light gray for the top and plain white Gutermann thread in the bobbin.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am certainly not perfect. And this project is more proof of that. As only Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana can sing it ---- Everyone has those days.... Everyone makes mistakes.....  

It wasn't until I was uploading these photos in preparation for this post that I noticed my poor Cougar #miniminiquilt looks like he was on a bender or got punched in the face. Those side pieces with the eyes are very similar when placed upside down. And I goofed!

The one on the right is correct.

I did my best to fussy cut the backing fabric to take advantage of these wonderful bird prints. And used a couple of old wooden rulers to make sticks for hanging. Those metric rulers aren't much good for anything else.....

For those of you who may be interested, I got my quilt labels from Ikaprint. There is always a link to their site at the end of my finishes posts and I do receive a small commission on all sales using this link. Thank you to anyone who has ever used it. Every little bit helps!

I ordered the 1 1/2" size. This refers to the width of the label. And the 5/8" refers to the height. So when folded the labels are a little bigger than 1/4" and the "sew fresh quilts" shows from the front. The "by Lorna McMahon" is only seen if you flip the label up.

Back in late 2014 I received my first order of 100 quilt labels and have finally used the last one this past week. Good thing I ordered more!

These "mini Forest Friends" #miniminiquilt finishes are each 6" x 6"

and were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th use of my 2nd edition of 100 labels

ordered from Ikaprint.

These cute woodland themed animal quilt block patterns are perfect for making as a gift for hunter or animal lover. Forest animals include deer, cougar, two different foxes.

Bonus block is the deer hoof prints block.

The "mini Forest Friends" Deer Hoof Prints #miniminiquilt finished at 4" x 11"
and was the 5th use of my 2nd edition of 100 labels
ordered from Ikaprint.

The mini Forest Friends is an 11 page pdf pattern. Forest Friends is a sampler style design with a woodland theme and features animal quilt blocks made using traditional piecing methods. No templates. No paper piecing. Only simple straight line sewing and diagonal seams. Easy to follow instructions are provided for every step of the way.

This pattern DOES NOT provide instructions for making a quilt. But the mini Forest Friends pattern does give step by step instructions for making all of the individual quilt blocks in both Full size and Half size. The Mini Forest Friends pattern consists of the following sized quilt blocks. Full size animal blocks finish at 8" x 8" and Half size animal blocks finish at 4" x 4". Full size Deer Hoof Print blocks finish at 4" x 17" and Half size Deer Hoof Print blocks finish at 2" x 8.5". For example, the inspirational mini quilt cover photo shown at the top of this post, would finish at Full size 31" x 31" and Half size would finish at 15.5" x 15.5".

This allows for a variety of settings in which your blocks can be used to make mini quilts, mug rugs, cushions, place mats, table runners, wall hangings or baby or lap quilts.

The mini Forest Friends pattern is now available here in my shop.

The mini mini quilt craze has been sweeping across Instagram for a while now. Not all of us are on Instagram, so I thought it would be great if we could ALL participate in the party.

Here you will find the Never Ending Mini Mini Quilt Linky Party. I am hoping you will give mini mini making a try. I had so much fun making these wee little mini mini quilts. I don't think I'm finished with this craze yet!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday with 

Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts

Keep On Quilting On!

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