Friends + Fabric Bee = Something Stunning!

This is what has arrived so far from the very talented ladies in the Friends + Fabric (A Modern Stash Bee). In late February I posted a tutorial for these wonky diamond blocks, and not only have my bee-mates taken a running leap with it, but their selections of fabrics blow me away! ISN'T THIS LOOKING FABULOUS??

There are a few more blocks that have popped up on the group pool in Flickr which are yet to arrive, but I think that once they are all accounted for, I will be super eager to jump right in and start putting them together!! If all goes well, and the various creators have no objection, I might even try and get this in our guild's portion of the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show this summer... Oh the possibilities!

do. Good FINALLY finished!

The journey started over 4 months ago. A request went out last fall for a substitute quilter in the Bliss circle of do. Good Stitches. I volunteered. I posted a tutorial with my inspiration, and blocks filtered in over the following 2 months.

until I could see where I needed to fill in...

But, it being me... well, I procrastinated on quilting it.

And took my own... sweet... time.

But, once the quilting happened, the rest was in the bag! (Okay, I still have yet to deal with a label for it!)

I'll certainly be happy to send this little guy in his way to the proper recipient, through Wrap Them in Love.

FTLOS2 - complete!

The turnaround for this swap seems to have worked out perfectly in my world! I am just hitting the overlap between international and domestic shipping... keeping the pool of possible recipients open until the very last minute!

I had completed the main project a couple of weeks ago, which felt great, but had been waffling about what to include as the smaller item. I made these coasters, which was fun and I hope will be enjoyed, but wanted to make a little something that would be just for my swap partner, not necessarily her whole family. I decided to try my first pin cushion! I found this tutorial on Sew Craftalicious' blog, which seemed right up my alley! Relatively easy design and construction, but super cute! I went ahead and made one little amendment, using HSTs in the 4-patch blocks on both sides, which allowed me to throw in a couple more colors.

Thankfully, I happened to have a nearly full bag of polyfil hanging around from a short lived idea to try making little stuffed animals - yeah, that never came to much.

AND I don't have many buttons, but knew I'd enjoy using these guys when I found the right project for them! I am hoping that they make my partner smile, too!

So, this little pin cushion will be joined by the coasters and wall hanging, which I'm not sure if I've shown in its entirety since I quilted and bound it, so here are a few full shots and details with quilting.

(and I couldn't resist throwing in some shot cotton! Love how this stuff quilts up!!)

Tutorial - wonky diamond log cabins

A few months ago I came across this photo on Flickr, by Jill (falling for pieces). Ever since I spotted those blocks it's something that's been on my to-do list. And, as March is my month for the Friends + Fabric stash bee, I figured this is a great block to play around with, and hope that my bee mates think so too!

So, a few days ago I wrote Jill and asked her if she had worked from or made up a tutorial for her blocks, and if not, whether she would mind my posting them for this bee. She graciously responded that she had not done so - just worked improv style, and gave me the go ahead to share.

Following is a step-by-step tutorial for how I made these guys, but in all honesty it's a basic log-cabin construction just at an odd angle. I found that the trickiest part is at the end, adding those corner pieces in order to get the right sized square (which I have to admit I did not, but more on that later!) So, please follow along if you like, or just play around on your own!
Beware! This is a LONG tutorial, and gets a little convoluted at the end. I apologize in advance if you have trouble following - but if that is the case PLEASE let me know and I'll try to make clarifications!

Starting out
Begin with your center diamond - perfect for pulling from your scrap basket and just trimming a couple of corners off willy-nilly! The size of these is completely up to you, though I wouldn't start with anything so small it's hard to sew onto, nor so big that you finish up your 12 1/2" block in 2 rounds (that will make more sense as you read further).

And you're going to want an assortment of "logs," or strips of coordinating fabric, ranging from 1" to about 3 1/2" wide. I am using 3-4 different fabrics per block, with at least one repeated at some point. These don't need to be straight cuts, in fact a little wonkiness is preferred, but they can be trimmed once you've sewn on each round.

Next...
Start sewing on your logs. Starting with one side of the diamond, trim your first strip, being sure to add extra length to accommodate the angle of the corners.

(note how you can follow the line of both that lower left edge and the upper right all the way across that strip)

Flip the strip over Right Sides Together, and stitch using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press open with seam allowance going toward the outside (the "log").

Continue going around the diamond in the same manner. Once you have sewn the next strip, trim the tail from the previous log even with your seam allowance before pressing open.

and keep doing this for each side...

until you have a complete frame around your center diamond.

(I was working on all 4 blocks simultaneously, using my favorite method of chain-piecing, which might explain the switcheroo of blocks mid-description. I hope that doesn't confuse anyone too much)

Trim all of the tails (and now would be the time to add any wonkiness if one desires).

And now for round 2
Which is pretty much like round 1, though perhaps with slightly wider logs (though totally not necessary!)

Oh, and this round is a good time to throw in a high contrast coordinate!

Again, trim those edges before starting on round 3! Also, keep in mind your finished block size. For this bee I was aiming for a 12 1/2" block (before piecing), and a couple of my blocks after round 2 had reached the desired length from top point to bottom. I went ahead and trimmed those corners to the finished length to indicate that I didn't need to continue going around the whole corner in the next round (avoiding wasting just a little bit of fabric in the final outcome).

On a couple of my blocks for round 3 I chose to return to the same fabric that I had used for the center diamond, when I could. Again, not necessary, but it adds a little continuity in the block, and we all know that a *little* repetition in quilting is not a bad thing! One could also wait until the outside corner pieces and choose from any of the previously used fabrics.

Okay - now for finishing these blocks!
Honestly, this was a challenge for me, so I hope that my explanation is clear enough! I started out by laying out my diamond on my gridded cutting mat, centering it within the indicators for the 12 1/2" dimensions (my desired finished product).

(oh yeah, and if you have a 12 1/2" square ruler (or even a 15" square) that helps TREMENDOUSLY.)

Then I made a note of the measurements from each of the points on the diamond out to the corners of my 12 1/2" guide. More often than not the measurements on diagonally opposite corners were close enough to assume I could use the same sized rectangle split diagonally to finish those corners. For instance, in the photo above, the top left corner and the bottom right corner each show dimensions of approximately 3" wide by 6 3/4" long. From those dimensions I rounded up about 1/2" - 3/4" to get my cutting dimensions for the rectangle I would need.

Now, as it turned out, I still fell short, since the angles of that final seam weren't consistent, so my advice is round up even more than you would think. My suggestion is to add at LEAST an inch to both dimensions. And of course, if your opposing corners are close, but not exactly the same, use the greater of the two measurements as your initial guide.

Cut rectangles from the fabric based on those rounded-up measurements. Then you are going to slice them diagonally. Be sure that you take into account which corners you're cutting for, and make the diagonal cut in that same direction (in this example I'm working with my top left and bottom right corners that I was talking about above, so I want to cut from the bottom left corner to the top right of the rectangle to get those pieces.) Since your dimensions on the opposite pair of corners will likely be different, this DOES matter.

make the diagonal cut

lay out the triangles with your block, using a guide to be sure they will square up to your desired size.

Flip RST and stitch with that 1/4" seam allowance.

Trim the excess before pressing open.

Once pressed, square up to desired size!

Ooof, I commend anyone who actually managed to make it through this cumbersome explanation - thanks for sticking with me!!

*An added note for the Friends + Fabric bee members: as I alluded to, I did NOT hit my target size on all of these blocks, so they ended up measuring 12" square once trimmed. That said, please aim for 12" blocks (before piecing together) as opposed to the usual 12 1/2". The benefit of these blocks is that you totally don't have to worry about matching points, or even KEEPING all of the points... trim as needed! Thanks for your flexibility!

Tutorial – mini equilateral triangles

Cutting and piecing equilateral triangles (a.k.a. 60° triangles) is actually quite a bit easier than it would appear, and such an effective look for the effort.

For this tutorial I'm going to throw a wrench in that, and offer a variation to spice it up just a bit more. I'm going to show you an easy way to transform some of your triangle patches into a mini pyramid of 4 triangles, and how you can adjust for almost any sized patch.

So, beginning with the basics, for pieced equilateral triangles begin with strips of your selected fabrics cut at any comfortable width. Just keep in mind that the sides of the triangle are going to be longer than the measurement from the top point to the middle of the bottom side (the cut width of the original strip), and you will lose about 3/4" - 7/8" of width to seam allowances in the finished rows.

For my project, I began with strips at 5 1/2" wide, which gave me triangle edges 6 1/4" long on each side.

For the mini pyramid blocks you will want to match the measurements of the original raw patch, before seam allowances, so for this I was aiming to get a pieced pyramid block that also measures 5 1/2" from top point to center of base (height), with the edges measuring 6 1/4" raw (length).

The math for figuring this out is actually extremely simple... you just need to divide the height by 2, and add 1/4" for seam allowance in order to get the height of the smaller cut pieces. For my project, to reach a finished pyramid block with a height of 5 1/2" I cut 4 triangles with 3" heights. (half of 5 1/2 = 2 3/4 + 1/4 = 3)

Now, if you started with triangle patches that measured 4" in height before piecing, then you would want to cut your pyramid triangles 2 1/4" in height (2 + 1/4 = 2 1/4), or if you start with 7 1/4" triangles, your smaller guys will be cut at 3 7/8" height (3 5/8 + 1/4 = 3 7/8).

Oh, and do you all know how to cut your 60° angles?? If you have an Omnigrid, Olfa or Creative Grids rotary ruler they will include guide lines not only for the 90° parallel and perpendicular cuts, but also for 45°, 30° and 60° cuts, in relation to the straight edge of the ruler. To get your first angle cut, lay out the strip of your fabric on your cutting mat, then line up the 60° guide along the bottom of your strip so that the edge of your ruler cuts a swath across the end of your fabric strip, from the lower corner up to the top edge, approximately 2-3 inches in (depending on the width of your fabric strip).

After that first cut, rotate your ruler so that one of the 60° guides matches up to the cut edge, and the opposite edge of the ruler runs across the strip in the other direction.

Voila!

Okay, back to the tutorial at hand... once you have your 4 selected mini triangles for the pyramid block, lay them out in the desired order.

We are going to start by piecing the 3 triangles that make up the base of the pyramid. Working from left to right, take the first two triangles.

Lay the middle one upside down (Right Sides Together) on top of the left one, matching all of the edges.

Sew a 1/4" seam along that right edge, from the top point.

Press open, with seam allowance to one side. At this stage you may just finger press, but I prefer to use an iron for a crisper seam and a bit more accuracy. Just be sure not to push too hard and stretch the bias edges of those triangles out of whack!

Next, take your last base triangle and lay it RST over the center patch, again matching edges and that top point (no offsetting necessary!)

You'll notice that you get the little tails of the previous triangle points peeking out just a 1/4".

Stitch along the outside edge with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press open, again with seam allowances going in the same direction as before.

Now take the top triangle and place it RST over the base, matching the edge at the top with the long edge of the center triangle. This is where those little triangle point tails come in really handy for alignment!

Stitch the two parts together along that top edge.

Press top triangle upward, leaving the seam allowance in the same direction, lying flat.

Trim off the little points if you like (though they are so small and not terribly bulky, so it's not a necessary step). Now you have a pyramid patch the same size as your other un-sewn 60° patches, so it can be used interchangeably within the rest of your composition.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!!

Half-Square Triangle Block

Over the last week I was working on blocks for a quilt block swap on Flickr, which I've already mentioned in a couple previous posts, the Nubees Block Swap. The block design that I came up with is a half-square triangle configuration (I've been doing a lot of those HSTs of late, I notice!).

When I posted the photos to Flickr, I was asked where I found the pattern, so I answered as best I could, but in all honesty, I pretty much just played around in my sketchbook with different HST configurations until one jumped out at me as being able to highlight 3 main colors (with some inspiration from a great ol' book I've had for years - Spectacular Scraps, by Judy Hooworth and Margaret Rolfe).

So, here is a little tutorial on these blocks (measurements are for a 12" finished block):

Start with a background fabric, plus 2-3 main colors (I chose to use prints that combine the 2 or 3 colors for the center section, then focus the middle and outer sections on one color each). You will need a total of (8) 4" squares of the background - mine is the grey solid, and (12) 4" squares of your prints - I went with 4 prints for each of the 3 sections.

Now, I will preface this whole thing with the warning that there IS a fair amount of waste in this, unless you choose to do multiple blocks with the same fabrics (in which case you will need more squares of the background fabric), or you don't mind having triangles in your scrap basket. Myself, I prefer to keep my scraps to squares, rectangles and strips, so this was a little tough for me (I actually still have a pile of all of the extra triangles from doing the swap blocks that I can't get myself to discard or cut down just yet). Alrighty, on with the lesson!

Take your squares that will comprise of the center diamond and the outside corners only (4 background pieces and 8 prints) and cut them once, diagonally.

We will be using both halves of the background squares, but only one half of each of the prints. I

Stitch blocks together in pairs, one background triangle with one print triangle, stitching along the long side.

Now, for the middle section HSTs, take a slightly different approach, as we will be needing both sides of all of the 4 prints *(unless you choose to use a more scrappy approach, which I'll touch upon at the end of the tutorial). Instead of cutting the squares diagonally, just pair up a square of background with a square of print, right sides together,

and DRAW a diagonal line from corner to corner. There are many tools for this. I tend to prefer using either a blue water-soluble marker or one of the Bohn or Sewline ceramic chalk mechanical pencils.

(the marking lines are a little faint for the photos, but trust me I could see them!)

Use the pencil lines as guides for your 1/4" seam allowance. Stitch 1/4" on either side of the line.

At this point you should have: (4) 4" squares of a background and print fabric stitched together on either side of a diagonal center line and (8) triangle pairs of one background fabric and a print.

Next step, cut along the center line on the (4) squares, to get (8) more triangle pairs. Press open, with the seam allowances all going to the same side (background if you used a darker color, otherwise press toward the prints on each).

After your blocks are pressed, it's time to trim them down. They need to measure 3 1/2", and will likely need 1/16 - 1/8 inch trimmed to acheive that. The best way to trim and square up HSTs is to use a rotary cutting ruler that has a 45 degree guide line from at least one CORNER of the ruler. Line this guide up with your center seam, making sure the edges of the block extend beyond the 3 1/2" mark on every side.

Cut along two edges, then flip the block around, lining up the trimmed edges exactly to the 3 1/2" guides on the ruler. Trim the other 2 sides.

Now for the fun part! Lay out your blocks on the table, keeping your 3 sections separate - (4) HSTs making up the center diamond, (8) HSTs making the faux flying geese sections surrounding the center, and then (4) corner blocks. We will be making a block that is 4 rows of 4 blocks each. If you picture it in quarters, have all of the print fabrics pointing in toward the center. Play around with configuration until you land on a combination that feels balanced. Lay out the blocks with the final orientation on your sewing table.

You may choose to leave the blocks laid out as such, as you start piecing your rows across, but I like to make tidy piles, so that I can work on more than one block at a time (again with the chain piecing love!) I just stay consistent with how I stack my blocks, going from left to right, top to bottom.

Sew your blocks together into the horizontal rows, then press. For this swap I chose to press my seam allowances open, which allows the recipient more flexibility in putting his or her various blocks together. For myself, I would choose to press seam allowances to one side, alternating directions on each row.

Then piece your rows together, matching up block corners at the seams. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I am not much of a gadget person - I have the basic tools and use them to the best of my ability and advantage. HOWEVER, I will say that I LOVE the Clover fork pins for matching seams and points.

Press seams (open) and VOILA!

*Coming back to that scrappier look... to do something like this guy:

...the only real difference will be in the number of print fabrics you start with - 16 total instead of just 12. And you will begin by splitting ALL of your initial 4" squares diagonally before stitching, since you won't need both sides of any of the print fabric (for just a single block).

Whew! I hope this doesn't leave anyone with more questions than they began with!! Have fun and do me a favor by leaving me a message if you try this tutorial and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping in!

Sampling of Stars

For my second block for August's Seams Perfect Scrap Bee I decided to play around with a star sampler within the 12" finished block.



The larger star on the lefthand side is from a pattern in an older Alex Anderson book, Simply Stars - Quilts that Sparkle. I used the 6" Variable Star pattern, found on page 48.

In addition to that I decided I wanted to try a 6 point star, a cross between a Star of David and a Seven Sisters. I started with a sketch in my sketchbook and went from there. I had no finished size worked out, just aiming for smaller than 9".

I began with a hexagon for the center of the block. I was lazy and used a template I had cut a couple of months back to make these blocks for Cruz (knitla), for the same bee. With seam allowances, the hexagon measures approximately 1.75" on each side. I estimated that the equilateral triangle star points should be about 2.25" on each edge, and so I cut (2) 60 degree triangles each from 3 different fabrics. It took me a while to figure out a way to piece this block WITHOUT any inset or Y seams, but doggonit, I figured it out! Again, there is little that is precise about these instructions, but I got to where I needed to be.

After cutting my 6 itty-bitty triangles, I cut background pieces from the Bella Solid fabric that Theresa supplied. I cut (4) each at 2.5" x 4" for the top and bottom "corners" of the block, and (2) each at 2.5" x 3.5" for the side settings.

I began the piece work making a top and a bottom row using the 4 corner background pieces and a pair of matching triangles. I began by placing one of the triangles face down on one side of the 2.5" x 4" rectangle, making sure the triangle corners overlap the edges of the rectangle at a 60 degree angle. Stitch along the triangle edge using a 1/4" seam allowance and trim off the excess on the background piece.


Flip the triangle open and press seams toward the background.


Now, take this unit and place it face down over another of the background rectangles, matching the opposite edge of the triangle across the corner of the rectangle.


Press seam toward background piece. Repeat with matching units.

Next, piece a second pair of the little triangles directly to opposite sides of the hexagon. Press seams toward the triangles and trim. At this point you should have 7 total units, the triangles centered in background pieces, the hexagon with 2 triangles attached, the 2 remaining triangles, as shown below, plus the 2.5" x 3.5" background pieces for the side settings:


With that last pair of triangles, it's time to start the tricky stuff! Place the rectangles for the background side settings just alongside the hexagon and other pieces for the star. Take one of the last pair of triangles, place it face down across the corner of the background piece, along the edge of the hexagon still unoccupied be a triangle unit. As you did with the top and bottom rows, be sure to have your corners overlap by approx. 1/4" for seam allowance, with the seam at a 60 degree angle to the bottom edge. Stitch in place, flip open and press.


Place the hexagon unit face down over this last section, lining up the edge of the last triangle with the open edge of the hexagon, and extending the triangle already attached onto the background block. The seams on the respective triangles should overlap by 1/4".


Press open. Repeat for the opposite side. You see you will have tails of excess on the background pieces. Just trim those off to be even with the upper and lower edges of the center hexagon.




Now you are ready to add those original top and bottom rows, respectively.


From here, trim your block to your desired size, just keeping in mind you need at least 1/4" of background beyond the star points.


Mine ended up measuring about 4 7/8" x 5 1/4". Given the improvisational approach to this whole block, I was not too concerned with ending up with a perfect square - I just got to make up the difference in bits and pieces of the background later on...


And after working through the two main stars in this block, I decided to use the classic Friendship Star for the smaller sparklers. Based on a standard 9-patch construction, I worked with 1" units to get two different blocks that would finish at 3" and work as filler in the larger block. All in all I had a lot of fun playing around with this one! Don't know if I'll be rushing to do more like it, but I am certainly glad I tried my hand at something new! Thanks for the impetus, Theresa!

STARting with a star

This month in the Seams Perfect Scrap Bee on Flickr is Theresa's (terrikuns') month. Her theme is stars... any type of stars, wonky, whimsical, 12" or multiple smaller ones... AND, she set us up with some of her fabric choices: Sanae's Chrysalis by Moda and a Moda Bella Solid.

We were invited to use some or all of the fabrics she sent, as long as we used the solid at some point in each of the blocks, and were welcomed to supplement with a coordinating fabric as well. As luck would have it, I just bought some pieces from that collection a little over a week ago while visiting Pioneer Quilts in Happy Valley, OR.

So, my adventure began with an improv, wonky Ohio Star variation. Very easy to make, and rather flexible, so I thought I would share with you all:
*these measurements are for a 12" finished block*

I began by cutting a center square 2.5" x 2.5". I decided that the solid would be an inner border around the center square, so from that I cut (2) 2" x 2.5" and (2) 2" x 5.5". And from the background fabric (for which I used one of the small-scale prints from the Chrysalis collection) I cut (4) 4" x 4" squares for the corners and (4) 4" x 5.5" rectangles to be the backgrounds of the star points.


Start by attaching the solid 2" x 2.5" rectangles to opposite sides of the center square. Press seams toward the "borders." Next, add the 2" x 5.5" rectangles to the remaining sides, to make a 5.5" square.


For the next steps I took a somewhat improvisational approach to a stitch 'n' flip flying geese block, making 4 units measuring 4" x 5.5" each. By starting with the background piece at that size, I could use various scraps to make up the geese, or star points.

Place a rectangle at an angle face down on top of the background block. Be sure that when you press it open it covers as far as the bottom corner of the piece. Stitch down using a 1/4" seam allowance.


Trim the corner from the background piece, using the seam allowance as your guide.


Press open.


Trim the edges flush with the background piece, maintaining the original 4" x 5.5" dimensions.


Repeat the last 4 steps for the other corner on the same side of the rectangle. Try to alter the size of the scrap piece and the angle at which you place it, for more variety on the star points.




Repeat these steps on the other (3) 4" x 5.5" rectangles.


Now, arrange all of your block units in a 9-patch formation, as pictured below:


Piece in horizontal rows, pressing seams toward the square units.


Sew the 3 rows together, press seams open and VOILA!

QAYG reversible placemat tutorial

I am not sure when I first began making these placemats, but I seem to have found a general layout that appeals to me and comes together rather quickly and effectively with all sorts of different fabric choices. Thought I might share one of the methods I use to make a fun set of Quilt-as-you-go reversible mats.

Total yardage requirements are for a set of 6 placemats, each approx. 13" x 18" finished.

Yardage requirements:
*A - 1/4 (3/8)
B - 1/3 (3/8)
C - 1/4 (3/8)
*D - 1/2 (3/4)
E - 3/4
F - 3/8
Binding - 2/3 yd
* if you use the same fabric for A & D, you will need 3/4 yd total
(yardages in parentheses are for directional fabrics)
You will also need 6 pieces of batting, approximately 14” x 19”, preferably with no polyester content, as you will be ironing over the batting as well.
Thread to match (or artfully contrast) your fabrics.

We'll start by getting all of your fabric pieces cut first. This is generally pretty straight forward, but be aware of any directional fabrics and be sure it is running the direction you would like in that position and where applicable, adjust the cutting instructions to make the 13 1/2” strip first and then subcut by the appropriate widths for that piece.

**Fabric A: Cut 2 strips 4 1/2” x WOF
sub-cut at 13 1/2” for a total of 6 rectangles 4 1/2” x 13 1/2”
Fabric B: Cut 4 strips 2 1/2” x WOF
sub-cut at 13 1/2” for a total of 12 rectangles 2 1/2” x 13 1/2”
Fabric C: Cut 2 strips 2 1/2” x WOF
sub-cut at 13 1/2” for a total of 6 rectangles 2 1/2” x 13 1/2”
**Fabric D: Cut 2 strips 8 1/2” x WOF
sub cut at 13 1/2” for a total of 6 rectangles 8 1/2” x 13 1/2”
Fabric E: Cut 2 strips 13 1/2” x WOF
from each strip cut (3) 4 1/2” x 13 1/2” rectangles and (3) 8 1/2” x 13 1/2” rectangles
Fabric F: From the 3/8 yd, cut 6 rectangles 6 1/2” x 13 1/2”
** In this set I've pictured, I DID choose to use the same fabric for A and D, so instead I cut (2) strips at 13 1/2" and from each strip sub-cut (3) 4 1/2" and (3) 8 1/2" for a total of 6 rectangles of each size.

Start with one of the pieces of batting, take a rectangle A and one of the 4 1/2” wide rectangles E. Layer them on either side of the batting, front of fabric facing out and lining up the edges as best you can.


Have the batting so that fabric E is showing. Take a rectangle F and place it face down, lining up the raw edges on the right side. Pin in place.


Next, turn over the batting, and place a rectangle B face down on A, again lining up the raw edges on the right. Reset your pins to go through all layers.


Carefully stitch with your walking foot, 1/4” from the matching raw edges of the fabrics on top. At this point it is good to check to see if your seam allowance on the back side is approximately 1/4”. Don’t worry if it’s a little bit off, that’s to be expected, just be sure there isn’t too much of a difference.
Take out the pins and press each side open. Try to get your rectangle F to lie flat against the batting, then flip over to work on the other side.


Next, take a rectangle C and place it face down on B, again lining up the right-hand raw edges. Pin in place. Stitch as before, take out pins and press open. Repeat with another rectangle B.


You will notice that on the "back" side of your mat (piece F) the seams from the piecing you have been doing are coming through as quilting stitches, securing the batting and fabrics thus far...


At this point the raw edges of your second strip B and of fabric F on the opposite side should line up. Take a rectangle D and place it face down on the same side you’ve been working from. Pin in place, then turn your project over and place an 8 1/2” wide rectangle E face down over F. Reset pins to go through all layers, stitch and press open.



Voila! I do recommend adding a little more quilting in some of the larger sections without stitching. I will often add just a couple more lines across, either parallel to or perpendicular to the stitching already in place, but you are certainly free to quilt however you like (be it meandering, pictorial, zigzags, echo, etc.)

Repeat for all 6 mats. Square up mats to approx. 13 1/2” x 18 1/2” and bind as you would a small quilt.