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Cross-Stitched Heart Mini Quilt

I have joined a TON of handmade swaps recently. It all started when Erica the leader of our Wish at do.Good Stitches asked if the 10 of us wanted to have a little swap. Then I started signing up for swaps left and right. I am now participating in Pillow Talk Swap, Sew Sew Modern Swap, Hoop-La-La Swap, Color Wheel Swap, and the I Love Kona Swap.

Seriously I am crazy, I just couldn't resist! The first swap deadline was last week for the Wish at do.Good Stitches. Since this was a secret swap I could not share a whole lot about my project with out my partner seeing it, but she now has her gift so I am excited to share.

Leah Duncan and Lotta Jansdotter

I was assigned Caitlin at Salty Oat. Caitlin lives in Carrboro, NC, with hery husband and dog and she works at Spoonflower! Seriously is that not the coolest job ever!! As with many swaps you are given a little list of your partners favorite fabrics, colors and items they would like. Caitlin's favorite fabric and designers are linen, Lotta Jansdotter, Leah Duncan, Maze and Vale, Umbrella Prints. I love her choices. Her current favorite colors are navy, gray, aqua, mustard yellow, coral. The items she was interested in were Fabric bins, fabric-covered boxes, mini wall quilts or mug rugs, zippered project bags.

DGS Swap Mosaic

So I started doing some research and stalking to figure out what I think she would really like the best. I studied her mosaic (above) and decided to go with a Mini Quilt and then if I had leftover fabric I would make her matching zipper pouches.

My Plan of Attack

I visited her blog a few times and each time always loved her Salty Oat logo. So I decided to use her logo as my inspiration for the quilt design. I sketched it all out first, and designed a cross stitch block that finishes at 3".

Cross Stitch Blocks

The blocks are really easy to make and I was thinking you could really use these blocks to cross stitch just about anything, words, shapes, patterns. So I may use this again, and if you all wan't I could make a little tutorial for them.

Working on her cross stitched logo

Once I had my quilt top pieced I cross-stitched her logo onto the quilt. That was super fun, I used some 40wt Aurifil thread.

Quilt Tag

I used some Kona Putty for the backing. I really love the look of hand quilting, but have never done it before. I thought since this quilt was little it would be a good one to try hand quilting out on. Well lets just say it took me FOREVER, but I do love the finished result. I am still trying to figure out how to get my stitches to be even on the front and back of the quilt. I wasn't to concerned, because this quilt is made to be a wall hanging so you won't see the quilt back much. I also machine stitched the borders with a cream Aurifil thread. I used some leftover Lotta Jansdotter for the binding and even added a little Pile O' Fabric tag.

Matching Zipper Bags

I used some of the left over Leah Duncan fabric for the zipper pouches. I followed a tutorial by Noodlehead which was really easy and I love the finished pouches.

Finished Quilt 

I really enjoyed making this for Caitlin! Here are the quilt specs…

Mini Quilt for my Swap Partner Salty Oat Mini Quilt for my Swap Partner Salty Oat Mini Quilt for my Swap Partner Salty Oat Mini Quilt for my Swap Partner Salty Oat Mini Quilt for my Swap Partner Salty Oat All wrapped up and ready to go! All wrapped up and ready to go!

Gift Received! 

I also received my gift in the mail which I absolutely LOVE! I had asked for a sewing apron, since I am constantly covered in threads. She even added a bunch of pockets to it for all my goodies. I wear it everytime I sew and even wore it to the PHXMQG meeting the other day. She also gave me a really cute zipper pouch as well which I am using for my sewing machine parts. Thank you so much Lynn for my beautiful apron and zipper pouch!

WISH Swap Gift Received WISH Swap Gift Received 

WISH Swap Gift Received

I really love swaps, I love the challenge of stepping out of my own style and trying to make something your partner will truly love. I already began working on my pillow for Pillow Talk Swap here is what I have so far…

PTS9 Progress

I will share with you as I work on each project!

Alyssa

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Creator of Pile O' Fabric

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