I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream!And Sewing Of Course!

Who doesn't love ice cream! August is the hottest time of year and especially in Florida. For this month's challenge, Island Batik Ambassadors were tasked to make a mini quilt.

Mini quilts are basically defined as smaller versions of larger quilts and usually are less than 24" x 24" in size. Some can be very tiny and other can be more like a wall hanging. I chose to make a wall hanging. I really like making smaller quilts because they are much easier to maneuver under a domestic machine. I also like to make them because they make nice gifts or can be changed often in the house during different seasons.

For this mini quilt, I used the Lace And Grace precut 10" stacks. They are colorful and bright which worked perfectly for my summer ice cream quilt. The stack has a rainbow of colors to choose from which made it nice to make my ice cream treat blocks. For the contrast fabric, I used Sprinkles, a foundation fabric that can be found year round in quilt stores form Island Batik fabrics. Each block was 6"x 6" finished and the overall size of the quilt was 18"x18" square.

Materials:

• Island Batik Lace And Grace 10" Stack

• Hobb's Fusible Cotton Batting

• Aurifil thread: 50 wt, 28 wt and 12 wt

• Schmetz Microtex needles 80/12 and 90/14

Method: Foundation Paper Piecing

• This method uses paper as a base to stitch over. It works well to produce crisp points and it helps while sewing smaller pieces. It provides stability while sewing

Foundation Paper Piecing:

1. Choosing a microtex needle helps when using this method. They have sharper points and move through the fabric and paper easily.

2. Decrease the stitch length of your sewing machine to about 1.5 mm. Decreasing the stitch length perforates the paper and makes is easy to tear off after the block or quilt top is completed.

3. Cut each piece of fabric larger than the outline of the pattern piece that will be sewn. This is needed so that when the fabric is folded over and pressed, it will cover all the seam allowances. At this point in time, the fabric can be trimmed to a 1/4" seam allowance and the next piece of the unit or block can be sewn on.

4. Each piece is sewn in a particular order. Foundation paper piecing is similar to color by numbers but each piece is sewn to form a unit. It is like traditional piecing but the first piece of fabric is sewn with the right side facing away from the paper and each piece after that, the right side of the fabric is facing the paper or right sides of the fabric are facing each other.

5. The overall shapes are achieved by using several pieces in one unit.

The examples below show the assembly of each unit to form a block. All units must be straight or angular but not having two angles when sewn to the next unit. In the picture on the right, there are sections for each unit with numbers. Each number is sewn in order. In a prior blog post, I discuss paper piecing in more detail.

After each unit is formed, then the blocks are completed. Repeat blocks are made to form the quilt. In this quilt, there are two ice cream cones, two ice cream cake cones, two sundaes and three popsicles.

The blocks are arranged, sewn together then the top is quilted. The quilt top contains 164 pieces total.

Forming a rainbow striped binding:

For the binding, I thought it would be nice to make it a rainbow stripe. Do you remember Fruit Stripe gum? It was pretty, tasted good but the flavor lasted about 5 seconds, LOL.

The binding is easy and quick to make.

1. From a10" stack, cut 2 1/2" strips. Four: 2 1/2" strips can be cut from one 10" square stack. Cut as many colors as desired to get enough length for the binding perimeter.

2. Choose the colors to be pieced together. I chose all the colors in the quilt and had extra left over.

3. Piece together each strip lengthwise to form one large rectangle.

4. Cut across the rectangle lengthwise to form 2 1/2" striped strips. Piece together the strips to form the binding. When piecing the long strips together, sew straight across the short end of the strip. Do not sew at a 45 degree angle as done in most binding piecing. This will continue the striping without it being shown at an angle.

5. Press the binding in half lengthwise and sew along the perimeter of the quilt.

**Be aware that once the strips are cut, the sewn edges can come apart easier because the stitching has been cut. The fabric can pull apart if tugged on too much. Be gentle with the binding until it is sewn down to the quilt.

Attach the binding.

And as a finishing touch, I added a cherry on top of that sundae. I appliquéd it on and added a stem with 12 wt Aurifil thread. I used Applipops to make the circle for the cherry.

Stay cool and enjoy some ice cream! It's hot out there! If you like to see these quilt blocks in a pattern, please let me know your thoughts as I am considering making a pattern for the blocks or quilt.

Thank you Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil thread and Schmetz Needles for providing the supplies for this project. I had fun making this quilt.

#islandbatik, #islandbatikambassador, #hobbsbatting, #aurifil, #aurifilthread, #schmetzneedles, #berninausa, #bernina, #applipops, #miniquilt, #quilting

Check out my fellow Island Batik Ambassador's projects. Their projects are fun and unique. Thank you for reading my blog and have a great day.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs Megan Best ~ Bestquilter Pamela Boatright ~ Pamelaquilts Elizabeth DeCroos ~ Epida Studio Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch By Stitch Custom Quilting Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs . Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood Denise Looney ~ For The Love Of Geese Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine Anorina Morris – sameliasmum.com Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads Brianna Roberts ~ Sew Cute And Quirky Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail Andi Stanfield ~ True Blue Quilts Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt