Design Wall Monday - the mini made large!

So the design wall looks like this!

I know, I was making great progress catching up on outstanding projects, ticking things done, crossing them off the to do list and feeling productive.  I was on a roll and with a a deadline on the 10th February, for a mini quilt swap - what do I do?  Yup, start another quilt!

In my defense this is the design I want to make in mini form for the swap.  Normally, the advice to test out a design is to make a mini - this time around I'm doing it the other way around!

You might remember this design I created from a tutorial I wrote on using  Touchdraw, for the Modern Quilters Ireland group?

That was nearly 2 years ago. About time I got around to making it really, right?  Some of the nicest things I've ever made have been for swaps and I've always been happy to send them on their way.  The drawback, is that when it comes to show and tell of your own work, you have nothing to show for it.  So I decided to make a big quilt for myself and a mini for the swap (swap is max 24").

For the bigger version, I had it in mind to make with low volume background fabrics and then use some of the same coloured fabrics for the mini version against a plain white background!

I had bought 2 boxes of Cotton and Steel fabric from Craftsy last year in their sale and it was sitting there just waiting to be used and I couldn't get the low volume version out of my head and really, really wanted to test it out so, I started pulling from the box and cutting up fabric and the next thing you know I motoring my way through 6" hourglass, snowball and flying geese chevron blocks!

I had joined Westwood Acre's Inside Voices fabric club two years ago and split the bundles with a friend.  We got 10 fat quarters each month and we'd take turns every other month keeping a bundle.  I thought I had lots and lots of low volume and now after this and my Lost in London quilt, I have made a huge dent, definitely don't have the makings of another quilt left!

I did sneak in some cotton and steel fun fabrics too, cats and coyotes, spiderwebs and flowers to just give it that special touch and this one is going to be for me and the dogs when we sit on the sofa in the evenings, watching TV (yes Charly does watch the telly - the Bassett's?  Not so much - it interferes with their snoring!)

And while I was rummaging amongst Cotton and Steel fabrics, I made a fabric pull for a guild quilt exhibition, due the end of February.  The theme is Aurora (goddess of the dawn) and I plan on making a wall hanging, using overlaying dresden plates in the colours of the Aurora Borealis.  Hoping it will look a bit like a sunrise just in mad colours!

I've resized templates from Aneela Hoey's Bloom Quilt pattern which gave me the inspiration for it in the first place!  Thinking this one should really be a big quilt too!   Aneela is on the crafty planners podcast today - go have a listen!

So that's me pro-crafter-nating on the to do list and indulging myself in fabric before the deadlines get a little bit closer!  Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did!