Hey, remember the halcyon days of Flickr? Some people speak of the Golden Era of Flickr, and I think I know what they meant. I don’t use Flickr as much as I used to. Honestly, I can’t really explain why. It has a little to do with its new formatting, but mainly it has to do with how little I take photos these days, or more specifically, take photos with “my nice camera” as opposed to the instant gratification cell phone shots that I share with friends via twitter or Instagram. Regardless, one of the awesome things about Flickr was, and still is, its communities within a community. Flickr groups are an excellent way to geek out and connect with other folks who have the same interests as you. One of my favorite groups on there is Mini Quilt Monday, run by one of my quilty heros, Malka of A Stitch in Dye.

 I’ve been thinking about mini quilts a lot lately. I miss making minis. They’re such a great way to work out ideas before going big. They’re like sketches in fabric. They give you a chance to experiment without any major commitment. And? They are an instant gratification project. I am all about that kind of project.

After teaching a paper piecing class at Gather Here, I was inspired to try my hand at designing a paper pieced pattern. Basing my design on this painting by Max Bill, which may have possibly been inspired by traditional quilt design, I whipped up this simple design with the beginner in mind – a pattern that is straightforward, thorough, easy enough, and fun. It allows folks some room to play with color and make it their own yet is also very structured. And it fuses two of my favorite things – graphic design and quilting. I titled it Spun because it looks like a pinwheel spinning. It measures 18 inches square finished, and you can use jelly rolls strips or large scraps to make it. I enjoyed designing it and sewing it and hope others will, too. Huge thanks to my pattern testers, Charlotte and Nicole, for all their valuable input. Special thanks to Charlotte for doing such an awesome job at tech editing and taking a red pen to my superfluous words. (You may have noticed, I like to use a lot of words. Heh.) You can find the pattern over here.