Tiny Lites® twinkle or shine continuously in this mini quilt. This mini quilt is easy to make, delightful to behold. Make this for your own Christmas Décor or as a special gift for a friend.
Hoop 2.5 ounce cut away stabilizer tautly in your hoop. Cut 2 9” x 11” rectangles of white quilting fabric and 1 9” x 11” rectangle of Battilizer®.
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Step 2:
Run color stop (CS) 1 in white as a placement line for your fabrics.
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Step 3:
Spray adhesive on the Battilizer®, position over the placement line so that the batting exceeds the outlines by ½” on all sides.
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Step 4:
Spray adhesive on one of the 9” x 11” white fabric rectangles and align over the Battilizer®; run CS 2 in white thread to tack down the fabric.
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Step 5:
Follow the color chart until the pot, cactus and light cord are completed. Do not run the last two color stops are run.
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Step 6:
Remove the hoop from the machine; do not unhoop; turn the hoop face down on a flat surface; spray adhesive on the Remaining 9” x 11” white fabric so that the fabric exceeds the placement lines by ½” on all sides.
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Step 7:
Run CS 10 in white thread to tack all layers of the quilt sandwich together.
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Step 8:
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Run CS 11 in white to quilt the block and sew the eyelets.
Step 9:
Remove the block from the hoop; using a quilting ruler lay the ¼” mark on the ruler along the outside tack down line and trim all sides of the quilt block to ¼”.
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Step 10:
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Opening the eyelets to insert the lights is a two-part process; please be sure your awl and scissors are sharp to the point, dull tools are dangerous and can cause you to have to push too hard causing errors. Insert your awl in one edge of the eyelet circle.
Step 11:
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Slip the scissors into the hole just made; clip the center of each side of the hole all the way to the outer edge of the eyelet.
Step 12:
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Cut for the borders:
4 Christmas Stripe print rectangles 2 ½”” x 14”
4 Christmas Stripe print rectangles 2 ½” x 11”
2 Batting rectangles 2 ½”” x 14”
2 Batting rectangles 2 ½” x 11”
For sashing and binding cut:
2 red sashing strips 1 ½” wide by the width of the fabric
2 red sashing strips 1 1 /4” wide by the width of the fabric
2 red 2 ¼” strips by the width of the fabric for binding
Step 13:
To make quilt sandwiches for the borders; spray adhesive on one side of a Battilizer® strip. Align a corresponding fabric strip right side up over the Battilizer®. Spray adhesive on the other side of the Battilizer® and align a second corresponding strip to that side. Repeat for the other three sets of border strips.
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Step 14:
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Spray the 1 ¼” and 1 ½” sashing strips with Magic Sizing or spray starch; fold the long sides to meet in the middle and press.
Step 15:
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Keep the narrow and wider sashing strips separated as the narrow strips will go on the back of the quilt and the wider strips will go on the front.
Step 16:
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Load the top and bobbin of your sewing machine with invisible thread. Choose a wide zigzag stitch (5mm) and space the zigzag out to about 4mm about.
Step 17:
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Butt an 11” border sandwich to the side of the center block without gaps or overlaps. Have the ends of the borders extend beyond the top and end of the center block by at least ½”. Zigzag the border and center block together. Repeat with the other 11” border on the other sides of the center block.
Step 18:
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Trim the border strips even with the top and bottom of the center block.
Step 19:
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Butt the longer border strips to the top and bottom of the mini quilt and zigzag them in the same manner.
Step 20:
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Trim the top and bottom borders even with the side borders.
Step 21:
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The sashing can be stitched down on each side with a straight stitch if desired. However, I prefer to stitch them down with a Serpentine Stitch such as shown in this picture as it blends in well with the stipple stitch used in the center block.
Step 22:
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Turn your mini quilt face down. Center a narrow sashing strip over the zigzag vertical seam, extend the sashing over the top and bottom borders, and stitch down both sides with a Serpentine stitch.
Step 23:
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Stitch a second narrow sashing strip on the other vertical seam on the back of the mini quilt.
Step 24:
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Turn the mini quilt right side up and stitch the wider sashing strips across the zigzag vertical seams in the same manner.
Step 25:
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Turn the mini quilt face down again and stitch narrow sashing strips across both horizontal zigzag seams and stitch down in the same manner.
Step 26:
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Turn the mini quilt right side up and stitch the wider sashing strips across the top and bottom horizontal zigzag seams and stitch down in the same manner.
Step 27:
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Trim off the excess sashing strips and square up the mini quilt at the same time. I square up the quilt by measuring from the inside edge of the sashing strip to the outside edge of the border. In this case I used a measurement of 3 ¾”. Bind the mini quilt using your preferred method.
Step 28:
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Attach a hanging sleeve to the back of mini quilt using any scrap of fabric 3 ½” x 12”. If you do not know how to make one see our article “Attaching a Hanging Sleeve to a Mini Quilt”
Step 29:
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Push the mini lights through each eyelet starting at the top of the mini quilt and working your way down to the bottom. Since this mini quilt will hang in the free-standing frame, the battery pack will sit on the table behind the quilt.
Step 30:
Slide your mini quilt onto the split rod on the Ackfeld 12” x 14” frame. Place a small accent piece in front of the battery pack and your Christmas Cactus with Tiny Lights 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.
