rainbow quilt | Lori Miller Designs

In the August 2020 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, you will find my latest design. It is a table topper of little rainbow paper pieced houses. I used a linen background and colorful fabrics from my stash to make this little cutie. It is a great gift idea to celebrate a new home, welcome new friends or just spiff up your own table.

Here is the cover of the August issue to look for, there are lots of fun projects in this issue just in time for summer sewing.

I designed my topper in EQ8 Quilt Design Software. It is a foundation paper pieced design that would be great for an intermediate quilter or a dedicated beginner. I find starting on paper pieced projects that are smaller is a great way to try out this technique.

I played with a lot of different color ideas, EQ8 Quilt design software makes it easy to do that, try on different fabrics and styles. Here is another color way that I played with in EQ8.

I used foundation patterns created with #EQ8 to make each of the eight sections of the quilt. This section is the top of the house.

i just took my time carefully pressing and trimming. I did not want to handle too much to keep the linen edges from fraying.

I always think it is a little weird to sew upside down and backwards, lol, but the precise stitching lines it creates are so worth it.

Here is one of the 8 little house wedges all put together. Ignore my well used ironing board cover. I will have to make a new cover one of these days.

I did assembly line sewing for each section. I just love how they take shape.

I stitch the wedges into pairs aligning the seams. Then I sew the four sections of the block together to make half of the table topper. I then sew the two half together and press seams open.

I used a combination of walking foot quilting and free motion quilting on the topper. It is small enough that you can experiment with some detail to get the lovely texture.

I would love to see your version, just tag me on facebook or instagram @lorimillerdesigns

I love a good table topper. Check out my other designs on these posts.

Welcome Home Pineapple Topper information can be found HERE.

If you are new to paper piecing, you might like to try my Stardrop Table Topper first. I have a free tutorial HERE.

Please tag me on instagram @lorimillerdesigns or on facebook @lorimillerdesigns. I would love to see your version!

Happy Stitching!

I am pleased to share my latest two published patterns. My Infinity Quilt and a MINI version of Infinity.

If this quilt looks familiar, you are right. It was a featured quilt in the Spring 2016 Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine.

I also had the privilege of showing Infinity at the 2017 International Quilt Festival Chicago in the Modern exhibit this past spring. It was very exciting.

I have updated the Infinity pattern since the magazine to include three sizes, throw, twin and queen size.

I also love the idea of having a mini version of one of my favorite quilts. So this little version is available as a separate pattern with a size of 24 1/2″ x 26″.

And of course I had to make a sample. Here is a little tour of making the MINI quilt.

I need to add that I use Electric Quilt software. With EQ 7, I could easily size down my pattern to make this mini quilt with very little effort! I love designing in EQ!

I did a lot of string piecing and I had to show this cute little sunflower quilts gadget to snip the threads between your string piecing. I picked it up at the Chicago show. So practical and cute!

There are quite a few half square triangles and I square them up as I go.

It is so fun to see the mini design come together! I am pinning with my hello kitty box of pins. Yeah, I got it in McDonald’s meal as a prize.

So I had just taken a class at Quiltcon for free motion feathers and I had just splurged on a new sewing machine. A babylock Jazz! So I had to try it out. I mimicked the quilting I used on my large quilt. The designs are so cute in miniature.

You can purchase my Infinity Quilt Pattern and Infinity MINI Quilt Pattern as a PDF download from MY PATTERNS tab and following the link to My Etsy Shop!

Thanks for letting me share! Tag me on Instagram at lorimillerdesigns, I would love to see your version!