I have needed a new mat for my laptop computer for the longest time. I've made do with doilies or old table mats, but I got the notion to make myself something cute this weekend.
I've been watching some of Lori Holt's YouTube videos on scrap busting and that led to me browsing through a few of her excellent quilting books, which are chock full of cute quilt block patterns. I literally pulled scraps from my stash bins and picked out three of her adorable block patterns and started sewing. I love how the apple and apple core mat turned out. It is a shame to cover it up with my computer!
Here's a closer look. You can tell I did the quilting myself. It is so strange how the results seem better when the quilting is a lot closer together. Maybe the lines are easier to follow or something. I don't know, but it turned out pretty well.
The little dahlia mug rug is cute too, but I was really rushing to finish this one. My piecing is ok, but I should have slowed down when I was sewing down the binding. Oh well, it makes a cute set on my desk and I will enjoy using them over the next while.
My progress on the Red Sampler Blocks has slowed down because I realized that I need a heck of a lot more background fabric and have to wait for it to come in the mail. It turns out all those red sampler blocks have to be framed in background fabric. Yikes. Luckily I found what I needed online. While I'm at it I should buy the border fabric before it is all sold out! Thank goodness you can order just about anything online. Remember in the old days if your local quilt shop didn't have it anymore you were out of luck? Now you can hardly even find a local quilt shop.
Hope you had a good weekend. I finished a couple of books and should do a review of what I have read lately for you this week.
I have been machine quilting small projects for quite a while. I used to stitch 2" apart, but now I'm finding 1" is the way to go. Recently I sewed scraps of batting together for the latest mini quilt. It was pretty lumpy when I basted the three layers together, but the one-inch quilting flattened it.
Your piece is so cute! I'm going to check out Lori's scrap busting videos. I need to start another UFO.
Posted by: Mary | March 20, 2023 at 04:27 AM
Your apple mat & flower mug rug are adorable! 🍎🌺 You'll smile every time that you walk past! That's great you were able to find the background fabric & I agree that you probably should grab border fabric while it's available! You're off to a good start on the week!
Posted by: Jan | March 20, 2023 at 07:59 AM
I’ve taken a few classes and have taught classes on free motion quilting in my time. They always tell you that the denser the quilting, the less you can see whoops areas. Your pieces look great! Enjoy!
Posted by: Kathy Czuprynski | March 20, 2023 at 08:22 AM
adorable! it is a shame to cover those up. you should make another apple one for your kitchen to put a candle on. that would be so cute in a kitchen. ;p
Posted by: Ina | March 20, 2023 at 10:12 AM