Friday, March 2, 2012

Retro Kitchen

Retro Kitchen Mini Quilt by Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt

Sometimes I think I've spent at least a third of my life in the kitchen. When I was a little girl, I loved watching my parents prepare meals for us, and they passed on everything they knew to my sister and I. "There's not a bad cook in the family," my dad always says proudly, and he's right. Even my husband loves to make his own pasta and sourdough bread from scratch when he has the time. Now that my three girls are no longer babies, they want to be part of the action too. I love seeing them standing on stools at the counter making lemon bread with Nana or juicing oranges with Daddy, and I tell them often that I look forward to teaching them how to cook when they get older. I have always found tremendous pleasure in creating food that others will enjoy, and all my hours in the kitchen over the years -- except perhaps those spent doing dishes -- have been happy ones.

Retro Kitchen Mini Quilt by Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt

Out of that comes this mini quilt: Retro Kitchen. When I started working with two packs of Hello Luscious charm squares a few weeks back, I was taken with the perfect retro vibe of the prints. Having seen so many incredible examples of intricate piecing online, I wondered if it would be possible to piece together a kitchen. With a lot of trial and error, this kitchen was born. The quilt is 23.5 by 16.25 inches in size. The basic blocks of the kitchen are pieced, and the details were attached by applique. There is also a small amount of embroidery in here too.

Retro Kitchen Mini Quilt by Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt

I tried to allow the prints themselves to suggest some of the objects in the kitchen like the clock, plant, and teapot (I just had to feature one of these cute little hearts on something).  Only a few extra prints were added to create this; it's almost entirely made from the charm squares. I really wanted to include the radio also since I've always loved listening to music while I cook.

Retro Kitchen Mini Quilt by Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt

The cake and cookbooks are a nod to my love of baking. Just seeing that layer cake makes me crave a slice!

Retro Kitchen Mini Quilt by Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt

My husband suggested putting the branch with the little bird in the window. I love the sheen of the solid prints in this fabric line; they worked well for the main window as well as the appliance windows and refrigerator. And I could not resist putting a little mini quilt on the wall above the window.

This quilt was such a joy to make. I'm thrilled to submit it to the Ellison Lane Quilts Modern Mini Challenge.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday, Sew and Tell Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

44 comments:

  1. that is so completely cute! I love all the tiny details!

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  2. Amateur!? I think not! That is totally awesome. :) Way to go!

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  3. Oh Heidi, it's gorgeous! I love the selvege numbers on the oven! Good luck in the mini challenge. :-)

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  4. oh my! this is like the cutest thing i've ever seen! love it!

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  5. Absolutely fantastic... as I knew it would be.

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  6. I absolutely adore this!!! The whole time I was reading your post I was thinking "I hope she's going to enter it in the Modern Mini challenge." Good luck! This is amazing - you should write the pattern for this because I, for one, would love to make one myself.

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  7. Oh my goodness that is too cute!!!!

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  8. Love the selvage strip for the stove dials! I want one!

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  9. Your husband's idea to put the cardinal on the branch outside is genious! I love it all!

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  10. Heidi, this is the cutest mini! Love all the details you put in it. Simply lovely! Good luck with the mini challenge!

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  11. What an adorable quilt. It looks just like the toy dream kitchen I played with!

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  12. WOW! This is great! Love it! Good luck!

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  13. OH....that is so adorable! Nice job!

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  14. Oh My! The details in this mini are fabulous! Great finish!

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  15. That is fabulous! I would love to have something like it to sit on my kitchen wall. Good job, that is one amazing finish! :)

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  16. What a great 'retro kitchen', Heidi. All the details are so clever -- even the birdie on the branch out the window. Hurray!

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  17. Holy stichin' this is seriously amazing. I have to have one. Wow. Great job.

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  18. How cute it that? I love the colour of the fridge, and the cake stand is adorable!

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  19. It's lovely. Looks a bit like a retro illustration.

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  20. I love the number strip on the oven and the cake. I like listening to music while I cook as well;)

    SUPER CUTE FINISH!!

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  21. Hi, Just want you to know that you've been presented the Leibster Award... As Freda said spreading the bloggy love!
    Info on my blog today.

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  22. Oh my word that's cute! Just adorable.

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  23. Hi! Your quilt is so beautiful! I love patchwork pictures and yours is just amazing!
    Sunny wishes from Greece! x Teje

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  24. That is a fabulous little mini-quilt! Such detail!! Whoop whoop!!

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  25. Adorable! So many fantastic details!

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  26. You really showcased the fabric. Love the mini

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  27. This is one of the cutest little quilts I've seen! Bravo!

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  28. This is so cute! Love the window detail too.

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  29. Amazing! The details are just wonderful!

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  30. Well, this is the cutest thing EVER!! You did a fabulous job!

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  31. This is the cutest thing ever! I love it. Good luck!

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  32. Oh it is just adorable! I love the details every where you look. The cake is wonderful and I love how you introduced the quilt with some background about your family. :)

    Super cute quilt! I will have to look into getting some of that fabric. Thanks for entering the contest! Good luck!

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  33. I am in love with this!!! Please add your project to SeamedUP!

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  34. So many beautiful details! And such sweet sentiments of cooking with your family. I love the teapot!

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  35. Just saw your mini over on the link page for Jennifer's Mini Challenge. Just had to come by and tell you that I love it !! Loved reading your post as well. You did an Awesome job!!

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  36. Just saw your mini over on the link page for Jennifer's Mini Challenge. Just had to come by and tell you that I love it !! Loved reading your post as well. You did an Awesome job!!

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  37. I'm literally obsessed with this mini! You did an AMAZING job and it's so stinkin creative!

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  38. Wow!!! That's really all I can say. This is fantastic! I love how you said that you wanted to "allow the prints themselves to suggest some of the objects in the kitchen." Amazing.

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  39. wow, this is such a beautiful quilt!! i love all the tiny, perfectly proportional details! i could look at it for hours.

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Aren't you the sweetest for leaving a comment! Due to all the ads that bombard this section, I have to moderate everything first, but look for your comment to post in a day or two. Thanks so much for writing!

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