This month the Island Batik Ambassadors are all making a mini quilt using Island Batik fabrics, to celebrate March Mini Madness. I debated what kind of mini quilt to make- I love to make minis! My last book Little Gems is all 12" x 12" quilts- so those are minis. I could make another quilt that size...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGOXDcEwOGRRiiiP9f1xcXkOxqjuMeWjTK-Ly9Y50WMsuvFe_bnjba5in9GHdZVLK3ebvW-bHNPyJjjF7AFzv5-JeEK9Z0QtAOnMecVx8bX6ebV7b3yP-JU5-v0Gg76uMVhQOmFjNzkFzG/s400/B1291+LittleGems.jpg) |
Images from Little Gems by Connie Kauffman Martingale 2015
Used by Permission. Photos by Brent Kane All rights reserved |
I finally decided to go really small and make a mini of a mini! Which quilt from the book should I try to make even smaller....hum...I finally decided on Serenity
![Martingale - Little Gems (Print version + eBook bundle)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u3s3XlQSw15ZZEUkLxBF5z4FmoV031LqEhfVWzEWmztQqJhzy9-hekmilWYpIuTLLnyePfktJJJdj8hMGKjBDmlKpZLCVdJkvt0bUQ94dnJAFaV9C_VkB5a8_NZFCO_cU=s0-d) |
Images from Little Gems by Connie Kauffman Martingale 2015
Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved |
This quilt is a great pattern. Because of the small size of the pieces and using a good variety of fabrics- this is a great quilt for using up leftover 2 1/2" strip packs. I told in the book how it is a great quilt for using up scraps and how there is really no right or wrong placement of colors. It would be a great quilt to enlarge the pattern and make as a lap quilt or larger. I never thought about making it smaller, but now I was curious how small I could go and what it might look like.
I decided to use an assortment of 14 different London Fog Island Batiks that I had leftover from another project (the more fabrics the better!).
![](https://vw-islandbatik.storage.googleapis.com/cache/68/4e/684e8c4aee5992c6534885427eb75282.jpg)
Click here to see the whole line of
London Fog.
Here is my mini of the quilt Serenity- 6" x 6"
Here is a photo of the blocks before it was all sewn together. See the coin for an idea of the size.
And here it is beside the 12" x 12" version. Notice the great
Ackfeld Wire stands the quilts are on. I love to display my quilts on these stands
The pattern pieces were 1" finished. That's pretty small- even for me! Here are a couple hints that are especially helpful for making very small blocks.
1. Use thin paper for printing your patterns
2. Trim seams to about 1/8"
3. Use glue stick to attach the first piece so that the pin doesn't distort the whole paper
4. Use a very thin batting (I used Hobbs Thermore Batting)
Have you ever made a mini quilt? Give it a try!