Mini Mania QAL :: Leap Frog

This is a Mini Mania Quilt Along post, see the main page here!It’s the second month of the Mini Mania Quilt Along that I’m co-hosting with Chrissy of Sew Lux Fabric. We’re sewing along in the order of the book. so our next quilt is Leap Frog, which was fun to piece, even if not all of my points ended up perfect!

I adjusted the pattern to have the center star be the focal point, instead of using the background print, like shown on the cover. I thought it would be fun to look at this pattern in a different way, and I really wanted the pink to shine in this quilt.

I didn’t pay close enough attention to the cutting on this quilt, until Chrissy mentioned that there were a lot of points to match up. That made sewing this quilt a little intimidating as well as time consuming. I found that if I waited to press my seams until I was getting ready to sew, I could press them the correct directions so the seams nested together. Since I always wonder how other people press their seams, I took a photo of the back for you:

While I started pressing all the seams to the light side, when I went to sew I realized that I should make sure they go in opposite directions. So, I started pressing the sewing, which was a little more time consuming, but also was great because it helped the points to line up.

Instead of quilting with my usual white thread, I used a pretty pale aqua thread {Aurifil 2830}. One of the great things is that on light colors, the aqua shows, but on darker colors it looks more white, so it adds a great touch of color without being too noticeable. I quilted in my favorite wavy lines because the always look great, even if they aren’t even, much easier than straight lines {at least for me!}.

And, I used this fun print from Little Red for the back {and white thread in my bobbin}. I probably double checked three times that I had it right side up before quilting in place. Again, I put hanging triangles on the corners {you can read a little bit more about this in my last post}. Chrissy shared another great hanging method on Instagram, using command hooks and safety pins, you can see it here.

And here’s a progress shot of my girls’ wall. {Find all the quilts here: Courthouse Steps, Birthday Cake, 16 Patch, Mini Granny, Hot Potato} I had the little “twinkle” sign custom made by Janessa’s Scrapwood after seeing one on Pinterest, I just have to paint it {light pink or aqua? I can’t decide, what would you choose?}.

As always, kits are available at Sew Lux Fabric, for both the mini quilt I made, and Chrissy’s version too {which is super adorable!}:

Or, pick up a book and sew from your stash. Either way, we’d love for you to join us!