Photo Corner Frame Blocks Mini Quilt

As you probably know by now - I love a good blog hop so I was very excited when Alyce from Blossom Hearts Quilts organized a hop to showcase the new mini charm packs and invited me to join in (Thanks Alyce!!!)  If you don't already know, the new mini charm packs from Moda have just started making their way to the shops and are a pack of 42 2.5" charms.  

The charm pack that I received was Deb Strain's Spa.  If you read my blog at all, you know that most of my projects contain lots of color - so not surprisingly, it was a challenge for me to decide what to make with this line.

My first thought was to make something for my mother who would very much like the color and patterns in the Spa line.  But then in walks my 9 year old with a drawing of a mini quilt that she would like me to help her make as a gift for a friend's birthday.  Yep - you caught me - I admit it - the project I'm about to show you was 100% my daughter's idea!  But I have to say, I loved her idea and I immediately got started figuring out how to make her drawing a reality.  And then I realized - this would be the absolute perfect project to use the 2.5" mini's.  

So, this is it - a mini quilt that can be used as an interchangeable photo frame.  (I can't find the original drawing but I think the major difference between hers and mine is that her plan finished at about 5 x 10 FEET with room for about 50 photos!)

Click to the end of this post for the step by step tutorial.

Here are a few of the details:  see that frame in the lower right hand corner - well, if you look closely, you'll see it is actually a pocket to hold the rest of your photos.

Oh, and did you notice another great use for those mini charms that I used for this quilt???  Well, if you cut your binding strips 2.5 inches wide (like I pretty much always do) then these 2.5" squares are just perfect for scrappy binding.  

And, of course, after this was finished, my middle daughter requested one to hang on her side of the bedroom.  She chose some charms I had left over from a Lucy's Crab Shack pack ( I cut these into the 2.5" squares as I don't know if this line comes in mini's.)   I also made one of the frames 8.5x11 so it can hold either pictures she has drawn or stories she writes (the regular paper is a bit flimsy in the frame so I would recommend backing it with card stock.)  We are going to use stamps to add some words/labels to the solid gray squares - I'm still waiting to hear what words I'm supposed to write!

A few notes:  

(1) There are a few changes I made to the second quilt that I wish I hadn't.  When (if) I make another one of these, I'll choose solids for the background fabrics because I think the prints (even in the same colorway) distract too much from the photos.  Also, I much prefer how in the first quilt, I used an obvious border for each of the photo frame blocks as opposed to in the second where I used the same fabrics to border the blocks and for the background. 

(2) Actually, if I had thought about it, I would have used more of the mini charms to make the border for the frame blocks - oh, well.  

(3) If you want to quilt the pocket - you have to do that BEFORE you attach it to the rest of the quilt!!!

(4) I would like at some point to make a third one of these with the changes above and my daughter is about 1/3 of the way through the one she is making for her friend (things like school, soccer, and gymnastics seem to be getting in her way) but if/when we get done, I'll post both our finishes.

Want to see what everyone else made with their charms?  Here is the schedule:

Sunday 7th - Right here at Blossom Heart Quilts

Monday 8th - me

Tuesday 9th - Jennie and Clara at Clover and Violet

Wednesday 10th - Lindsey at Happier Than A Bird

Thursday 11th - Kristy at Quiet Play

Friday 12th - Jane at Want It, Need It, Quilt

Saturday 13th - Wrap up back here at Blossom Heart Quilts

GIVEAWAY

I want to thank the Fat Quarter Shop for generously sponsoring this blog hop. They are also sponsoring giveaways on all the blogs in the Sweet Treats Blog Hop this week.  The giveaway is for a $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop. 

To enter: 

1.  Leave a comment on this post (any comment!) 

2.   My followers - old and new - get a second entry - just be sure to leave a separate comment indicating that you are following.  

And as always, unless you are sure that you are NOT a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address in your comment so that you can be contacted if you win.  The giveaway will remain open until October 13, 2012 at 8pm EDT a winner will be selected at random.

This giveaway is now closed!

TUTORIAL

This is how I made the photo corner frame blocks:

1.  Take 6 mini charms (I picked randomly) and lay them out as shown below.

2.  Sew together two rows of three charms.

3.  Press the seams and sew the two rows together.  Press the seams.

4.  Take 4 charms and press in half to make triangles (do not cut.)

5.  Cut a piece of card stock according to the measurements of your photos.  I would have thought my photos were all 4 x 6 but they were actually 4 x 5 7/8.  Place the card stock on top of your rectangle from step 2 and arrange the triangles as shown below.  Depending on the size of your photos and how well (or not well) you stitch a 1/4 seam, you may need to place your triangle closer or farther apart than shown.  Use your preferred method to mark the placement and remove the card stock.

6.  Using a 1/8 seam allowance, baste/stitch around all four sides of the rectangle.

7.  Put your card stock into the "frame" and make sure it fits - it should not be too snug yet because you'll be stitching another line in the next step that will make the opening smaller.  If not, stitch another line inside the previous one - no need to unpick the first because it will be covered up later.

8.  Cut a piece of contrasting fabric the same width as your completed frame - it should be approximately 6.5 x 1.5".  

9.  Attach the contrasting fabric to the frame using a scant 1/4 seam - make sure that your line of stitching is below the line that you stitched to attach the triangles.

10.  Attach strips the rest of the way around the frame - I attached them using the log cabin method.  I usually press my seams open but for this, I pressed all my seams toward the middle rectangle since it made the border appear more like a frame.

11.  Get out your card stock again to make sure it still fits!  And trim.

That's about it - for this first mini, I made 5 frames 

and basically improv pieced them together.

Add your photos and you are done!

Let me know if you have any questions.