A few recent projects - table topper, mini quilts, other stuff too!
Here are a couple of my recent quilting projects. The first is a new topper for my kitchen table. This is an adaptation of the design “Summer Nights” in Quilting Quickly magazine (Summer 2013 Issue). I used a Farmer’s Market charm pack by RJR, substituting a couple of the squares with other fabrics that I purchased. (I wanted to stay with the fruit and vegetable theme, and the original charm pack had a square with French fries on it. I know they come from potatoes, but I don’t think French fries really belong!) This was my first time trying a curved edge binding and I love the look; it was surprisingly easy as well. If you decide to try this pattern, just be aware that there is no template in the magazine for the curved binding (much to my surprise – they tell you to use the Quilt in a Day scallop ruler, which I don’t have). I had to freehand the curves with a dinner plate. They look pretty good to me!
The second piece is a little mug rug (it’s about 8” x 10”) that I made for my desk at work. (Yes, I eat lunch at my desk, a bad habit.) I wanted to try out my new AccuQuilt tumbler die and do some practice free-motion quilting too, so this was a good little project.
My next item is the first mini-quilt I have made from Nancy Zieman’s book “Seasonal Miniature Quilts”. This book contains 20 designs for all seasons and holidays. The 6”x6” mini-quilts are made back-to-back so you can flip them over and display either side. The book comes with the little mini quilt rack which is adorable (I need to stain or paint mine, haven’t had a chance to get that done yet). Each mini-quilt teaches a different technique so that’s a nice bonus. My sailboat was paper-pieced, and the balloons were appliquéd by machine.
Lastly, I was shopping at the local dollar store recently and saw this little wire display rack. Hmmm, I thought…. that looks just about the right size for holding my Kindle Fire! I like to watch my Craftsy classes or other videos while sewing, and I could set this rack right on the sewing table. But of course, being a quilter and all, I just couldn’t let my Kindle sit on that cold, hard metal rack, now could I? So I dove into my scrap pile and made this cute quilted cover for it! I simply sewed the squares together, sandwiched them with batting and a backing, left one short end open, and made a sort of “sock” that slipped right over the rack. Ta-da! My happy Kindle Fire now has a soft resting place.