Shop Small

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Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, or Shop Small Day. I like that, because I’ve always loved small things. Unlike my husband, who hauls out the biggest cutting board, knife, pan, or whatever tool he can find to do the tiniest job, I prefer things that feel petite. As well as little quilts, little dogs, little kittens, etc. My business is small, a one-woman outfit that I’ve built myself, and it fits just right.

If you’d like to visit on Shop Small Day, the holiday shopping special is still in effect at the Etsy Shop. Use the coupon code 20XMAS at checkout to save 20% storewide.

Speaking of small quilts, here’s a post that shows how I make my framed mini-quilts. Perfect for quilty holiday gifts!

love-done

More turkey!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

The lucky reader who won Wild Blooms & Colorful Creatures was No. 32, Margaret! The book is on its way to you now, Margaret, have a wild and colorful time with it!!

And my thanks to all of you who follow this blog. When you enter these drawings, it lets me know you’re out there, and you’re a fellow appliqué enthusiast, and I appreciate it so much.

I’ve been having a fabulous time making more framed mini-quilts. Here are a couple of them.

It’s a whole lot o’ fun.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Materials organized. Make sure your design fits well within the frame. Heads up, when it says 4×6, that means the opening in the back. What shows in the front will be slightly smaller.

Fused and ready to stitch. Cut the background an inch or so larger than the finished size so you can trim later.

Stitched! I use a machine blanket stitch but you could finish by hand or with another machine stitch.

Quilted and trimmed to the finished size. I used a low-loft cotton batting, and I didn’t worry about whether any quilting would be cut off, in fact I kind of planned that it would be, just for the freedom of it all. After trimming, I stay-stitched all the way around, close to the edge.

I glued my business card to the back. That’s right people, I glued it. You can make a fabric label for yours. :)

All done! And might I add that it was done by 3:45 in the afternoon of a day that included taking kittens for boosters, running three other errands, playing with kittens, and having a leisurely lunch with my husband on the patio. Not bad!

These make great gifts. If you start now, you can have one finished for everybody on your holiday list. The design can be something very simple, and your kith and kin will appreciate that it’s something you made.

Until next time, on to the next frame,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

New adventure!

Filed Under Books, Framed mini-quilts | Comments Off on New adventure!

I’m embarking on a new kind of project! That’s always pretty exciting. In the past, I’ve made some mini-quilts, put them in frames, and given them to dear friends as a gift. Here’s the one I made for Suzanne years ago.

I got the urge to play around with this idea some more, so I went to the thrift shop and found quite a few cute frames. I went to the cashier with my stack, and AGAIN I scored a half-price sale, with eight minutes to spare! I did not know, just got lucky.

Here’s my first project, all organized, with frame selected, fabrics pulled, pattern correctly sized, and reversed pattern printed and ready to trace some SoftFuse templates.

I’ll be working on this today, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie