PICK FABRICS IN A VARIETY OF OCEANIC GREENS AND BLUES TO EVOKE THE SEASHORE
YOU WILL NEED
Sea glass mini quilt
■ An assortment of scraps
measuring 11/2in–21/2in square
■ Background fabric:
133/4in x 173/4in
■ Batting: 16in x 20in
■ Appliqué glue
■ One (1) copy of each of the
Seaglass templates
■ Frame (optional)
FINISHED SIZE
■ 13in x 17in
NOTES
■ Seam allowances are ¼in, unless
otherwise noted.
■ Press seams to one side, unless
otherwise instructed.
■ Templates do not require or include
seam allowances.
■ When using appliqué glue, make sure to test that it’s suitable for your fabric before you begin your project.
■ This project is made without backing fabric, as it is intended to be shown in a frame. If you would like to make a more traditional mini quilt, you may choose to add your own backing and binding as you would normally.
FABRICS USED
■ Fabrics are scraps from Debbie's stash, including Winter Wheat from the Floral Elements collection and Borneo Imprint from the Boscage collection by Katarina Roccella, both for Art Gallery Fabrics.
PREPARATION
1 Using the templates and a removable fabric pen, trace seaglass pebble shapes on the right side of your fabric scraps (Fig A). The templates give you an idea of sizes and shapes, but you can also draw freehand to suit your own taste.
2 Cut out each pebble along the marked line (Fig B). You can roughly lay out your shapes as you go, to get an idea of how many pebbles you want to use. Debbie used approx one hundred and twenty pebbles for her mini quilt.
MAKING THE QUILT TOP
3 Centre your background fabric with the right side up on top of your piece of batting. Press well with a hot iron in order to slightly bond the fabric to the batting, taking extra care not to scorch your fabric. Add a few pins at the edges if needed to hold the fabric in place.
4 Layer your cut pebble pieces on top of the background fabric. Debbie started in the centre with her lightest pieces, and worked her way outward towards the darkest pieces. Move your pieces around until you are happy, leaving approx 1in around the side edges. Cut any extra pieces as necessary to fill gaps.
5 Once you are happy with the layout, carefully glue each piece down with a dot of appliqué glue. You should only need a small dot of glue to hold everything in place temporarily.
6 Set up your machine for free motion quilting, referring to the box out for tips on how to get started. Quilt around each pebble to secure it to the background (Fig C). You can go around some pebbles more than once. When you finish circling one pebble, simply quilt across to the next pebble. This prevents you from needing to knot your thread for every pebble.
7 Once you have finished quilting around the pebbles, add some quilting to the background. Debbie chose a wavy line quilting pattern for a ‘beachy’ look.
8 Once the quilting is complete, pull any thread ends to the back and knot. Square up the quilt top, trimming away any excess batting. Pop the mini quilt in a frame of your choice to finish.