Friday, November 14, 2014

Mini Quilt - Snack Mat
I created this small mug rug for my office so I can eat snacks at work without making too many crumbs. This was a quick project created from two 6" squares of linen that were upcycled from an old shirt. I sandwiched the two pieces (back is a pale apple green color) between a layer of cotton batting. I sewed around the perimeter, leaving a 3" space unsewn, folded the piece right side out, and pushed out the corners. The piece was ironed flat and then topstitched around the edge. 

Each row of stitching was done with 2-4 strands of different colored embroidery thread. I wanted the finished look to be varied and look hand done. The patterns are tree bark like with some wiggles and swirls. 
The overall effect is bumpy and colorful!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Scrap-Tastic!
(small pieced coasters)

Lovely pile of scrap fabrics (I have bins of fabric scraps!)


 

  Finished Mug Rug

This one has concentric quilting:

Here are a batch of complete coasters - using similar toned fabrics


Gather up your scraps and sort them into piles based on colors you like together. Sew together several small (2-2.5" pieces) in a row. If you want, you can sew together several pieces and then using a rotary cutter, cut the entire sewn piece into two halves.  After each addition, press seams open flat on reverse side, and trim off any loose thread. On average most of my coasters used 5-8 small pieces of fabric. Make sure to back stitch at the start and end of each section you sew together. 

Keep adding scraps until the piece is at least 5" square. It's fine if the pieces are a bit wonky.



Make a second sewn together side out of similar or different fabrics.  Trim it up to 5" square. Place both sides right sides together. Add a 5" square of cotton batting and pin together. 


Put right sides together....

and add the batting layer on the bottom. Pin together. 




Start two thirds of the way down one side, back stitch, then continue to sew around all sides using 1/4" seams. Leave a 2" opening. Turn right side out, pressing to make corners square. Tuck in the opening and iron the entire coaster flat. 



Trim away the excess batting as it adds too much bulk to the finished coaster.




Almost finished!





Top stitch around the outside very close to the outside edge. 




Trim any random threads and you're done! 





This is another set I made with blue, purple, black, and yellow fabrics, adding in a contrast fabric with text leftover from a pre-printed pillow project.