Arrow Bird Mini Quilt

Hello, I'm Afton Warrick from Quilting Mod. It is my honor to join the Fort Worth Fabric Studio for Mini Quilt Mania! My 18" x 18" paper-pieced mini is a reflection of my taste for modern fabrics and the southwestern region where I reside. I've paired April Rhodes' Wanderer and Maureen Cracknell's  Wild & Free for Art Gallery Fabrics, with coordinating Kona solids in "Arrow Bird".

Fabric Requirements: 1/8 yard of each: Kona Navy Kona Salmon Kona Corn Yellow Wanderer Dreamcatching Flare Wanderer Gust of Leaves Wanderer Sacred Seeds Wanderer Serape Fervor (for border) Wild & Free Fletching (for binding) 1/2 yard of: Wild & Free Luminous Field

Cutting:

From Kona Navy:

(8) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles

From Kona Salmon, Kona Corn Yellow, Wanderer Dreamcatching Flare, Wanderer Gust of Leaves, and Wanderer Sacred Seeds:

(7) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles From Wanderer Serape Fervor: (2) 2" x width of fabric (42") strips for border

From Wild & Free Fletching: 

(2)  2 1/4" x width of fabric (42") strips for binding

From Wild & Free Luminous Field:

(2) 1 1/4" x 15 1/2" rectangles for A

(1) 2" x 15 1/2" rectangle for B

(2) 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles for C

(14) 3 1/2" squares for D & E (Cut twelve of these once on the diagonal, from corner to corner, to create two triangles.) (2) 3 1/2 x 5 1/2" rectangles for F

Download the pattern here. When printing, set your scale to 100%. Piecing Tips:

Cut out each unit. Fold on the lines to show where they are from the back of the paper. Lay out the sections as they are in the quilt. Write fabric colors on each piece. Use a glue stick to attach the first piece of each unit to the non-printed side of the paper as shown. Make sure you have a 1/4" of fabric extending beyond each line of the first piece for seam allowance.

Flip the unit to the printed side, and cut off the excess fabric.

Use this extra piece of fabric for its identical unit, positioning as shown, and securing with glue stick.

Lay something with a hard edge against the line between the first two sections. Fold the paper onto the hard edge, and cut a 1/4" seam allowance. I prefer to use an Add-A-Quarter ruler.

Continue the process to cut 1/4" beyond all the edges of the first section. 

Continue adding successive pieces, with right sides together, on the non-printed side of the paper. Do not use glue stick after the first piece. Sew on the printed side of the paper, using a shortened stitch length. If you are new to paper piecing, I recommend viewing the instructions at Quilting on the Square or the video at Ellison Lane, as I am covering a few pointers, rather than the complete process today.

For the quilting, I used a different free-motion design for each fabric. Pebbles filled the background, and straight lines mimicked the design in the border.

Before deciding on free motion designs, I use chopping mats from the Dollar Tree and Expo Vis-A-Vis Wet Erase Markers to try out designs on the quilt.

Wild & Free Fletching makes a lovely binding, as its scale shows peeks of the arrows.

I used the remainder of my 1/8 yard cuts with Kona Oyster to create a pieced back. One of the advantages of mini quilts is that you can do intricate free-motion with less time commitment than a regular size quilt.

Thank you for joining me, and don't forget to check out the other amazing minis on the Mini Quilt Mania! Blog Hop.