This inspirational mini quilt block is embroidered and quilted in the hoop. The sashing and binding are stitched at your sewing machine. A great gift for your own home or for a teacher’s schoolroom.
Cut 2 9 ½” x 11 ½” rectangles of white Kona Cloth® and 1 rectangle of Battilizer® at the same size. Tautly hoop 2.5-ounce cut-away stabilizer in your hoop.
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Step 2:
Run the 1st color stop (CS) in white as a placement line for the fabrics.
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Step 3:
Spray adhesive on one of the white Kona Cloth® rectangles and position over the placement line so that the fabric exceeds the placement lines by at least ½” on all sides.
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Step 4:
Follow the color chart to embroider the graphic and lettering, do not stitch the last two color stops yet.
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Step 5:
Remove the hoop from the machine, do not unhoop. Lay the hoop face down on a flat surface. Spray adhesive on the Battilizer® and position it over the placement lines on the back of the hoop so that the fabric exceeds the placement lines by at least ½” on all sides. Spray adhesive on the remaining piece of Kona Cloth® and align over the Battilizer®.
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Step 6:
Return the hoop to the machine. Run CS 18 in white to tack down the Battilizer® and back fabric.
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Step 7:
Run the last CS in white thread to quilt the center block.
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Step 8:
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Lay the ¼” mark on the placement lines of the block and trim all sides to a ¼” seam allowance.
Step 9:
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Cut 4 print fabric borders 12” X 2”; cut 4 print borders 14”x 2”; cut 2 Battilizer® borders 12” x 2”; cut 2 Battilizer® borders 14” x 2”. Make quilt sandwiches from these strips by spraying adhesive on one side of a batting strip and adhering a corresponding strip of fabric to it. Spray the other side of the batting with adhesive and adhere another corresponding fabric strip to that side. Repeat for all batting and fabric strips.
Step 10:
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For yellow sashing cut 2 1 ¼” strips the width of the fabric; cut 2 1 ½” strips the width of the fabric. For the binding cut 2 2 ¼” strips of the yellow fabric.
Step 11:
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Spray the sashing strips with Magic sizing or spray starch. Fold the long edges to the center and press. Keep the narrow sashing strips separate from the wider sashing strips. The narrow strips will be stitched to the back of the mini quilt, the wider strips will be stitched to the front of the mini quilt.
Step 12:
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Load your sewing machine with invisible thread at the top of the machine and in the bobbin. Select a wide zigzag stitch (5mm) with the spacing at 4 to 4.5 mm.
Step 13:
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Butt an 12” strip next to the side of the quilt block having the strip extend a little beyond the quilt top on each end. Zigzag the border to the quilt block without overlaps or gaps. Repeat on the other long side of the quilt block.
Step 14:
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Trim the excess border strips from both ends of the quilt block.
Step 15:
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Stitch the 14” border strips across the top and bottom ends of the quilt block in the same manner as you attached the side borders in Step 13.
Step 16:
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Trim the excess border even with the side borders.
Step 17:
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The sashing strips can be stitched with a straight stitch but I prefer a Serpentine stitch as it blends in nicely with the stippled stitching of the quilt block.
Step 18:
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Lay the narrow sashing strip over the vertical zigzag seams on the quilt back extending the sashing strip too approximately ½” over the top and bottom of the quilt block. Stitch down both sides of each sashing strip with invisible thread and the Serpentine stitch.
Step 19:
Turn the quilt right side up. Stitch the wider sashing strip over the vertical seams in the same manner.
Step 20:
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Turn the quilt wrong side up. Stitch the narrow sashing strips across the horizontal zigzag seams in the same manner.
Step 21:
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Turn the quilt right side up and stitch the wider sashing strips across the horizontal seams in the same manner.
Step 22:
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Trim the excess sashing from all sides of the mini quilt squaring up the mini quilt as you do so. Bind the mini quilt using your preferred method.
Step 23:
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Hand stitches a hanging sleeve ½” below the top of the mini quilt. If you do not know how to make a hanging sleeve see the article “Attaching a Hanging Sleeve to a Mini Quilt”.
Step 24:
Feed the hanging sleeve unto the quilt frame. Congratulations your ITH Bee Home Mini Quilt is complete.
Award winning Digitizer, Embroidery Educator, Author and a Consultant to the Industry, Pat Williams has 30 years of experience in the embroidery industry. Pat has won multiple awards for her digitizing expertise including the 2007 Impressions Awards Grand Championship, Best of Show as well as the 1st and 2nd Place Awards. Pat’s love of digitizing has afforded her the opportunity to write numerous articles for Impressions magazine in the United States and Images Magazine in Europe. In 2001 Pat was named “Embroidery Educator of the Year.” For many years Pat taught digitizing seminars at the ISS Shows in Long Beach, CA and for Compucon software. She now resides in Tucson, AZ.
