ISLAND BATIK MAGNIFICENT MINIS

It seems that since the first of the year, I am one step behind! For the February Island Batik Ambassador challenge we were to make a mini. I did start it in February with the purpose of finishing it in February! Well, I came close.

I have made many minis. I went through a period in late 1996-97 making minis because I never could seem to finish larger quilts. I would make quilt tops but quilting them seemed daunting on my domestic machine. I hadn't gotten my longarm yet. Making minis was great because I could finish the top in a short time and quilt and bind it in record time!

Here are some of the minis that I made:

Pennsylvania Star

 Glorified Nine Patch with a Twist

Pattern and templates available on my website. (Click on link above.)

The first quilt I entered in the Miniatures from the Heart contest in the Miniature Quilt magazine (which is no longer in print). It won a Innovative quilting prize and the Glorified Nine Patch won a first place ribbon in a local quilt show. (The later is one that I teach a lot to quilt guilds.)

 THE CHALLENGE

For this challenge I had lots of small fabric strips left over from the Spring Breeze quilt that I made. (Pattern is available on my website, click on link under image.)

 Spring Breeze

Here are the scrap strips leftover from that quilt.

 

I was thinking since the strips were all about the same size (1") I would do a log cabin block. I have a favorite curved log cabin block that I have used in quite a few patterns and I miniaturized it down to a 2-1/2" finished block in my EQ8 program. Then I printed the paper pieced blocks on freezer paper. Since the block was so small I could print multiple blocks on one page. On a log cabin if you make the strips smaller on one side it creates a curve illusion.

  

Here are some full size quilt I made (patterns available, click on links under image) with the same curved log cabin block.

Natasha

Prairie Star

Here is what the block looked like after I finished it.

Here is what the back looks like. I trimmed the seams to 1/8" since it was so small.

After finishing 16 blocks (I wanted to get it done so I didn't want to make too many blocks) I played with different settings.

Here is the setting I decided to go with.

I thought how do I quilt it? I decided to focus on the curves so I quilted circles. That is not easy on a quilt as small as this! I started with a small circle from the bottom of a pill bottle and then used the edge of my machine foot to follow it for the concentric circles. Sometimes I had to sew two stitches at a time and move the quilt! I quilted it with a light blue Aurifil thread.

I wanted to make the binding scrappy but luckily one of the fabrics I used in the quilt had multiple colors and worked perfectly! For miniature quilts I cut the binding at 1-1/8" and use a single fold. Before I sew it on I press it in half (wrong sides together) and then press the edges to the center for my 1/4" seams. This makes a perfect 1/4" binding.

I hope you enjoyed the process of making my mini. I had fun. My husband helped me name it Bullseye! If you think you would like a pattern of it, please let me know. I will add it to the list of patterns that I have to write.

DRAWING

Congrats to Sharon Aurora who won a fat 1/8th bundle of Island Batik fabrics. Leave a comment and you will be entered into a drawing for a  fat 1/8th bundle of Island Batik fabrics. Be sure to leave your contact information so I can reach you if you won.

As always: Do what you love and love what you do. Thanks for reading and feel free to forward and send to your quilting friends.

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