Mini Mania QAL :: Hot Potato

One of the things I want to do this year is fill a wall in my girls’ room with mini quilts. So, when Chrissy at Sew Lux Fabric asked if I’d like to join her in making every quilt in the Mini Mania book by Abby Lane Quilts, it seemed like fate. I actually ended up making two versions of the quilt, because some of the prints for my first choices didn’t seem quite right. Fortunately, the second one seemed perfect to me, so here it is:

This mini sewed up really fast, once I cut out all the pieces with the templates! This is the first quilt I’ve ever made that uses templates instead of just measurement cutting. Fortunately, I happened to have a scrap of template plastic that I purchased a while back (from a big fabric store). So I cut some templates to the same size as the pieces in the book.

I found these helpful too, for fussy cutting any fabrics (though, I ended up not using the fabric in this photo, but it’s still a favorite).Since the template plastic is easily cut with the rotary cutter, I had to use my ruler as well. But this was still much easier than using paper templates.

I also added 3″ squares folded on the diagonal to the back of the mini, so I wouldn’t have to put push pins through the corners.

The raw edges of the triangles are finished under the binding, then I just cut a dowel to length and hang on a push pin.

This mini is quick to sew, so there’s still time to pick up a kit or just the book here and sew along with us. Here’s the second kit option available, Chrissy’s bright Carkai version:

Of course, you can sew along from your stash too. We’ll be making about one mini a month, so join when you can and take a break if you need to also. I’m going to do my best to think of a fun/helpful mini quilt making tip for you each month too! We’ll be announcing the February mini and kits soon. We’d love to have you sew along with us!