Pandemic Productivity, part 2

Welcome to part two of the sister act I like to call Pandemic Productivity, this time with a couple of minnie blocks from Jane. Last year she was smitten by tiny little trees that Dutch quilter Anna Jantina was posting on Instagram. She just had to make some!

It was only going to be a table runner project when she started but went overboard on the trees and made a whole forest!

They measure 2.5" x 5” and are soooo deliciously scrappy - just about anything goes - and it appears to be a speedy hand stitching project because she's got enough now for an adorable quilt. She still wants to add two borders and lace to the outside edges as Anna did with hers and the plan is to have it on her double bed by Christmas. 

These little guys are adorable so I followed Jane down the rabbit hole, but I only got as far as making myself a set of templates - nothing is cut yet. That's the difference between Jane and I. Anna used to have acrylic templates for sale, but they no longer seem to be available.

I was busy drooling over tiny trees when she sent pics of another amazing project (I swear she is not sleeping at all these days 😉). With all of the self-isolation going on these day's you'd be forgiven for feeling like a bit of a basket case, but Jane has taken that idea and turned it into cute, cute, cute!

It is inspired by another of Anna's quilts - adorable little 4" x 9" basket blocks. She doesn't have as many tiny florals as Anna has used in hers because she doesn't have access to her stash (much of the stitching has been done while in isolation at her sister’s home) so she relied on a few scrap fabrics that she had with her and then Linda kindly let her do some 'klepto quilting', digging through all of her scrap bins to try to use up what they had instead of cutting into larger pieces. Ah, the joys of klepto quilting.

The original pattern has bias handles for the baskets but she wasn't into that. When the lovely and talented Linda suggested using rick rack instead Jane was sold. She loves how it worked out. I do too - it gives it a really vintage feel, doesn't it?

She finds that Anna's quilt to have more of a summery palette while hers leans toward spring so she calls it Easter Baskets.

This quilt was started around the end of March and apparently she has already made about 120 blocks (!!!) so she will soon lay it out to see if she has made enough. It will probably be a throw for the sofa rather than a bed-sized quilt so I'm thinking she's pretty close to finished. Can't wait to see what's next on the agenda!....M