Cookie Tray Mats

Thanks to Carla for all her hard work for this In the Kitchen blog hop!

Cookie jars are not my thing.  Out of sight, out of everyone’s mind and the cookies go stale and look unappetizing in other ways too.  I have this glass domed tray for treats.  The tray is not food safe so the treats always sit on a plate. My salad plates fit perfectly.

I’ve searched for fun plates to use in it, but they are either too small or too large or I just don’t like them.  But the tray is always on the bistro table in my kitchen and it looks blah when there are no treats inside.

It finally dawned on me that I could sew round mats to set inside.  I thought this was an excellent time to try a paper pieced New York Beauty block.  I shrunk the block pattern to a size I hoped would fit.  At the time, St. Patrick’s Day was approaching so I chose some green fabrics to use.

I’m still trying to use up this near white glow-in-the-dark piece I’ve had.

I stitched up the first quarter block.  The whole circle needs to be about 9”.  That makes those center circles pretty small.  After sewing these first small quarter circles, I knew I did NOT want to sew those 3 more times!  So I took the circles off.

And cheated by cutting full circles with my circle rulers.

Loads less stressing!

I kept the papers on to keep the edges from stretching out of shape.

I did the same with the center circle.  

I pinned the binding on from the paper side and stitched it from the paper side also.  That way I would know exactly where the points were and not chop them off with the binding.  It worked out nicely.

I never do a bias binding.  Even on circles.  I always do a straight grain binding.

After stitching the binding on, I pulled the papers off and did the quilting.

Then trimmed around the mat and hand stitched the binding to the back.

It all worked out really well.  AND, it fit in the tray perfectly!  Color me happy!



I had such fun with this one, I wanted to do it again.

This time for the patriotic holidays.

The only thing I changed was that I stitched the centers as raw edge appliqué rather then turning the edges under.  I really like the look of raw edge applique’.

Then Easter was coming too...

These circles were all cut with my circle rulers.

Then when there isn’t a holiday, I wanted an everyday mat to see.

Striped bindings is specifically why I don’t do bias bindings.  I don’t care for the stripes being at an angel on a round mat.

There might be Fall and Christmas mats to come.

It all depends on what shiny project draws my attention most at the time.  

My tray doesn’t seem so empty and lacking even without something edible inside.



You know I had to try the NYB as a postcard!

And, yes, I will mail it to one of my followers.  Just add mention in your comment that you’d like to find it in your mailbox.  I will contact the winner for mailing info.

Check out the other blog hop participant’s projects on this final day of the hop.

Thursday, April 22nd

Creatin' in the Sticks

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Quilting Gail

Sew Many Yarns

thatfabricfeeling

Annie's musings

Quilt Schmilt

Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Food For Thought

Have A Heart

I finished just barely in time for Valentine’s Day, this year!

This Have A Heart wall hanging finished a bit larger than I had in mind, but that’s how it goes when I make it up as I go along.  23.5” X 23.5”

I have seen many similar hangings on Pinterest and wanted to try one myself.  I’m not thrilled with it, but it will do.

I pulled fabrics from my stash.

I cut 4.5” squares and 3.5” squares.  The small squares were backed with Wonder Under.

I used my paper crafting BigKick to cut the hearts.

25 quickly cut hearts.

I arranged the blocks and stitched them together.  Then fused the hearts in place.

I raw edge appliquéd the hearts with black thread for an outlined look.  Then quilted around each square.

I then couched two strands of Perle Coton 8 around the outside edge of the hearts.  

 

This was all finished on the 13th.

On the 14th I made a tag to attach to the wall hanging for a stab at added detail interest.

I might try this again someday in hopes of getting it more to my liking. 

The Month of Hearts and Flowers

A small old piece that has been languishing, awaiting inspiration for a finish.  

It was planned to be a pillow.

It was too small as is.  But it would be too large if I added to it.  So it sat.  Stored for quite a long time.

The flower is a rubber stamp image that I enlarged for applique.  The rest of it is paper pieced.

I suddenly realized it was a perfect size as is for the little 12” table top display frame I recently purchased for a cross stitch piece.

I recently made a birthday tag for a small gift.  And that inspired me to do a little more paper crafting with tags.  On Pinterest I found a tutorial for a window technique using acetate.

It started out as a future need of a birthday tag instead of a card.  As I worked on it, it was soon apparent to me that it intended to be a Valentine tag.

It’s a bit of a struggle to keep the acetate clean while working with it, but a not too close look doesn’t reveal that.

I always do a little on the back of my tags.

This prompted me to pull out the heart themed tags I had done in previous years.



Now they all hang out around the house on available knobs.

Or just tucked into a drawer.





I think it’s a fun idea to enjoy them.  I’ll be switching them out throughout the year as I’ve got quite a few tags that have been in hiding for much too long.

My Calendar Journal format has changed once again!  I most likely will be sticking with this easy format for now on.  I’ve printed off the months and am just decorating the blank spacing simply with washi tapes.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mixer Mat

My new mixer arrived earlier than expected.  It’s always a pleasant surprise to receive something sooner than expected.  These KitchenAid mixers are heavy!  It was suggested to place a towel under the mixer so that it can be moved around on the counter easier.  Well, a towel is fine for those who don’t sew.  But I had to have a quilted mat, don’tcha know.

I had a couple of quilted scrap fabric pieces that had been my sewing machine cover.  After I made the cover, I got an acrylic extension table for my machine.  The cover no longer fit well.  So I took it apart.  There were two pieces.  The smaller piece was a perfect size for a mat under the mixer.  I just needed to bind the edges.

I was glad to be able to use one of the pieces.  It can barely even be seen under the mixer.  Which is kind of a shame, but it’s out of the way of ingredient messes and makes it much easier for me to pull the mixer out for use.

       These Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are SO delicious!  I hope the link works.  Tip:  They take a long time to set to be able to cut them cleanly.  Several hours.  I decided next time I make them I would cut them the next day.  Also, the recipe suggests a 12 bar servings.  For us that is too large of a serving.  I cut them much smaller.  Although it was very hard to walk by them without just sitting down to eat them all!  YUM!

We’re getting plenty of snow this month with more to come shortly!

I love when the snow sticks to the trees.  So beautiful!

Its piling up weekly!



And it’s gotten down right cold too.  I’m staying inside sewing and baking.

Art History and Curiosity Quilt

What a struggle to make this small quilt.

It began when I saw a fabric on Pinterest that I just loved and really wanted.  It is called Treasure Hunt.  Finding it was the problem.  It only showed up available in Etsy.  My problem with Etsy is that I’ve never used it much and was not well versed in using and buying from it.

Treasure Hunt is a grunge fabric.  I do have a love for grunge.  Not real life grunge so much but definitely in art.  Marcia Derse has wonderful grunge fabric designs.

Treasure Hunt is being quilted and will take me awhile to finish it.  So this post is about a little Art History and Curiosity quilt.  (Those are the fabric names)

After making this little whimsical quilt , I wanted to make another.  The size is so perfect for a single person to just grab and go sit on it in the park or the yard or at any event where seating is the ground.

Marcia Derse fabrics are obviously extremely popular and are out of stock everywhere.  I could only find them available on Etsy.  Even there most are sold out.  I bought half yards of each of these pieces to put them together.

The ruler shown with the Curiosity piece on Etsy showed the color squares measuring less than 1” in size.  In reality when the fabric arrived, the color squares measure about 2” each!  That was a shock.  I didn’t know there was a link to click on to get the sellers description of the fabrics...where the seller states the blocks are 2”.  Etsy has been an expensive experience for me.  

Now I needed to make them work.  I was NOT going to buy another piece of fabric from Etsy with the shipping costs.  Plus, the seller does not cut the fabric between panels or following a graph design.  Add to that, the end of a bolt is where fabric is usually wound wonky anyway.  So I lost more of the Curiosity fabric than I was happy about just to straighten it.  

I won’t even go into the struggles I had with a simple grid quilting that was not simple in any measure of the term.  I used a piece of grunge fabric from my stash for the binding (because I did not want to add fuel to the fire with buying another piece on Etsy). This quilt measures 40” x 41”

But I won the fight and it’s done!  It is not fabric stashed in a drawer.