Marvelous Minis!

            Marvelous Mini by Connie Kauffman  

            13 3/4" x 15 1/2"

This month the Island Batik Ambassador challenge was to make a marvelous mini!  This is always one of my favorite challenges as I love to make small quilts.  Our quilts were to be between 12" - 24" square.  The size was easy, but what to make?  So many choices!

I love Log Cabin and Pineapple blocks, so I began to design along that line.  I began to wonder how small could I go?  

I've always loved the mini quilts by George Siciliano.  You can see some of his award winning quilts at www.georgesiciliano.com  His quilts are amazing.  He uses a lightweight foundation material called Foundation Stuff that you can run through your printer, and you can also leave it on the back of the block.  Wow!  That would save tearing off all those tiny pieces!  I had ordered a package of Foundation Stuff years ago and never tried it, so here was my chance!

The sheets are sort of like a thick vellum.  They ran through my printer easily and sewed much like thin foundation papers.  I did have to be a bit careful when trimming seams that I didn't tear it.

The blocks in my design measure 2 1/4" x 2 1/2"  Each block has 37 pieces, so you can see why I didn't want to tear away all those tiny paper backings! 

For my color scheme I decided on purple and yellow with Island Batik black solid as the background.  Black always makes colors pop.  I gathered a lot of purple and yellow Island Batik scraps and began sewing 36 blocks.

Just because you make a mini quilt does not mean it is necessarily quick and easy! Each block took a LONG time and I began to worry I wouldn't get this done in time, but I persevered!  I was SO glad I didn't have to tear off all the backing papers1

I used black 50 wt Aurifil thread for all the piecing and quilting.  When working with minis it's helpful to have a good thin thread.  The black color disappeared in the quilting.

It was interesting working with a pineapple block that wasn't square.  This block was only a quarter inch shorter on one side, but it  did make sewing seem a bit off kilter when you are used to making square blocks.  The quilt ended up measuring 13 3/4" x 15 1/2", and had a total of 1,332 pieces.  I'm glad I didn't know that when I started!

Since this was a small quilt I used Hobbs Thermore batting as it is very thin.  I always use Schmetz needles and they worked very well with the thread and foundation sheets.  I finger pressed each seam when sewing so the only ironing I did was a final press on each block and pressing seams open.  Thanks to another one of our sponsors Oliso for supplying the Ambassadors with an iron.

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt top as I'm about to baste it.  The top is a bit stiff, but as this is a mini, it doesn't need any drape or softness.  I would definitely use these foundation sheets again.

Mini quilts can be hung on the wall or on an Ackfeld Wire stand or used as a table mat.

Next time you make a small quilt, try and see how small you can make it.  You may end up with a Little Gem! Okay- that's a shameful plug for my book Little Gems.  If you want to try to make a small quilt 12" x 12"  you will find a bunch of fun patterns in this book.

Many thanks to Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread and Oliso for providing the products used in this project thru the Island Batik Ambassador Program.