Summer Mini Quilt Blog Hop: Day 1

We can't wait for summer! To help put us all in a carefree, sunshine-y mindset, this week we're hosting the Summer Mini Quilt Blog Hop! Thanks to our talented designer friends, we'll be featuring tutorials to make four different summer-themed mini quilts. 

First up is Debby Kratovil from Debby Kratovil Quilts. She has used the cheery floral Liberty Garden prints and a cool folded hexie technique to create a sweet fabric garden. Check out her tutorial, and then head over to Debby's blog to enter for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of some Liberty Garden prints. Click here to see all 35 Liberty Garden prints and download two free quilt patterns for use with the collection.

Here's Debby! 

Liberty Garden is a perfect collection for Spring. The flowers and colors celebrate all the newness that this season brings our way. I chose six SKUs from the collection for the project I had in mind. 

Six fabrics chosen from Liberty Garden

For this mini project, I decided to revisit some of my 3-D hexagons, yoyos and prairie point flower leaves. First, let's see what I mean for the folded hexie! Then I think you'll understand my steps.

3-D Folded Hexagon

Other techniques begin with circles. Who can cut a perfect circle? Not me! Plus, there aren't any points of orientation with a circle. I like to start with a hexagon. These are easily cut using a multi-size 60 degree ruler. This is my Creative Grids ruler. I like to practice with construction paper. That way, if I make a mistake, it's only paper!

(The pattern for this will be included at the end of this post.)

Practicing with construction paper

I cut a 5-1/2" strip of the first floral and folded it in half, with fold side down and raw edges at the top. This is approximately twice the height of my finished folded hexagon.

5-1/2" strip folded

Then I cut the folded fabric, aligning the 2-1/2" horizontal line at the raw edges. (2-1/2" is half the finished height of the 5-1/2" strip). Slice on both sides of the ruler.

Cutting the 5-1/2" strip

 Open it up and - magic! A perfect hexagon.

Perfect hexagon!

Now, fold two opposing points into the center. Notice that the fold runs from two other opposing points. Press well.

Press two opposing sides

 Now, this gets tricky to show, but easy to do: Fold the bottom right point (in pic above) up to the center. Repeat for the top left corner, folding down to the center. Press. Sometimes I use pins to hold the folded fabric in place.

Next two folds

 You now have two remaining points to bring to the center. Press and hand or machine stitch. The center stitching will be covered with a yo-yo (or a button).

Last two points brought to the center. Stitched down,

 Now for the yo-yo (circle pattern included in link below). Trace onto freezer paper, press to right side of fabric and cut out. (See. I told you I can't draw a circle well!)

Cutting circle of fabric for yo-yo

 Gather outer edge (1/4" folded under).

Gathering the yo-yo.

 Now for the prairie points. Cut three 2-1/2" squares. Now press them in half, forming a folded rectangle.  Bring outside points DOWN to the center so that ALL raw edges meet. Secure with stitching. (This is illustrated in my Trash Basket Batiks pattern link below.)

Three prairie points (will become my leaves)

 The stems of my hexagon flowers were made with a 2-1/8" x 20" strip sewn into a tube. Pull it right side out using a safety pin. Press flat.

Tube of fabric for my stems.

Now let's see it all together:

Folded hexagon with yo-yo center 

The background of my mini was cut 10" x 12-1/2" (1705-84). The side border was cut 4-1/2" x 12-1/2". All other elements were cut and described above.

Liberty Garden mini

Here are the links to my 3-D Folded Hexagon pattern (with circle and hexagon templates included) and Making Prairie Point leaves is part of my FREE PATTERN: Trash Basket Batiks on Craftsy.

You can see the prairie points (and yo-yos) in the pic below:

Thanks Debby! Head over to Debby's blog for a chance to win some Liberty Garden prints! And make sure to follow along for all four days of our blog hop! 

Summer Mini Quilt Blog Hop:
Day 1: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts using Liberty Garden
Day 2: Benartex blog design team using Play Ball
Day 3: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts using Anything Goes
Day 4: Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation using Patio Splash