Mini Quilt with Curves

One of the classes I took at Sewing Summit this year was Mini Quilt with Curves by Christina at the Sometimes Crafter. I’d made a drunkard’s path block in the past, and I found the curves to be a little feisty, so I was hoping to get some tips on making curves easier and more precise.

Fab, no?

I found this class incredibly useful (think of the possibilities!), and I got further into my mini quilt than I did in any of my other projects. Christina is a natural teacher (and super nice and encouraging to boot!), and made her process for sewing curves very clear, and she was able to help us out if we needed individual help. The block she designed (called “Ornate”) is gorgeous and different than anything I’ve seen before.

Even better, she taught us to sew curves without pins. That is just some craziness right there! I loved this technique, and because she gave a lot of trim allowance, it was easy to get perfectly curved seams in half the time it takes when you’re using nine pins per square.

I chose Kona Coal and an array of teal fabrics out of my stash, and learned to use a rotary cutter on curved templates (Amanda’s curved template was given to us as part of the class). I didn’t mean to fussy cut my pieces, but they turned out nicely balanced. Well done, subconscious self.

I chose to hand-quilt it, thinking of Anna’s Finishing Details workshop I took. Some of my SS friends helped me pick out some variegated teal pearl cotton, and I just echoed the shapes in the quilt. I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out — I wish I had the patience and the calluses to hand-quilt more of my projects!

I already have an idea for a curves Christmas quilt. Look for it on the blog sometime soon!