I had so much fun with the Curated Quilts mini quilt challenge last fall (the black and white one) that I knew I wanted to participate again at some point. This time around, the theme is “Half Square Triangles + Subtraction” with a color palette of orange, golden yellow, soft pink, sky blue, and cool-tone neutrals.
The “subtraction” prompt is a little more abstract and open-ended than previous themes. In quilting, subtraction generally refers to taking things away from the overall design — so, for example, a common use of this design technique would be something like my Beauty Burst quilt, where I started with a basic quilt block and then subtracted many elements from the design.
For this mini quilt, however, I took an even more literal approach to the subtraction idea! After making this quilt using a technique learned in Kim Eichler-Messmer’s class at QuiltCon 2019, I wanted to adapt the technique to a different kind of design. This challenge was the perfect opportunity! I was able to subtract fabric by literally cutting away triangles of fabric from each layer.
In the photo above, I layered 10″ squares of yellow, pink, and blue fabric and quilted that stack with a grid of 1″ half square triangles. Then I grabbed my sharpest tiny scissors and carefully cut either 1 or 2 layers of fabric away to expose either the pink or yellow layer underneath.
Once I had finished that, it was time for more layering! This time, I added a 10″ square of orange on top, and a square of batting and another 10″ square of orange on the bottom to complete the quilt sandwich. I quilted more minimally this time, outlining one square and two more triangles. After a big more strategic cutting through the orange layer, it was done!
This quilt was super fast to make, and really really fun. Most rewarding was seeing that the end result did indeed match the vision I had in my head!
The details:
- Mini quilt measures 10″ square.
- Fabrics are all solids from my stash, probably all Kona cotton but I’m not 100% sure!
- Backing is the same orange solid used on the front.
- Machine quilted with a walking foot using Aurifil 50 wt (orange).
- Binding is the same blue as the quilt top, hand stitched to the back.
p.s. This Curated Quilts mini challenge is open through April 1 so you still have time to enter!
I really like your literal approach on the theme. With all the layers, does it feel pretty heavy?
I was worried about thickness, but it’s not too bad! Five layers of cotton in all plus batting. It wouldn’t drape well, but for a mini or wall hanging it has a nice thickness to it.
I considered not using any batting, but then got wrapped up in my head about whether it would still technically be a quilt if it didn’t have batting. Ha!