Field Day Placemats

I have been wondering what to do with these Alison Glass prints for some time.  Brooke at Silly Mama Quilts had a great sample of one of these placemats with Alison's fabric on Go Create showing this placemat.

  I pulled out my fabrics and ended up with 11 placemats.  I need to do some searching through my stash for one more print to make it an even 12.  These will be perfect for spring and summer family dinner celebrations.  I did get this one completed.

A Christmas Skirt At Last

I have been talking about making a new Christmas skirt for our tree for at least a couple years.  I had some 4 1/2 inch strips cut from this Figgy Pudding fabric and decided it probably would work well.  

I got the the skirt all finished, even figured out how to face the center hole so I did not have to split it and make ties.  It will fit right over the tree stand before setting the tree in.  I had it all machine bound, with the light print.  

Problem #1:  Now that it was all done except for sewing by hand the binding down.   I decided to try it out on the tree stand.  Might have been smart to see how big it needed to be first.  It was a good 2 inches too small all away around to cover the stand's legs.  

OK:  I cut a 6 1/2 inch bias strip folded it in half and started to sew it all around from the back side.

Problem #2:  It was cupping under so badly that this idea would not work.  So I un-sewed the strip and put in on again sewing it from the top side.

Problem #3:  Now it cupped up instead.  I was smarter this time and only sewed about 10 inches around, in order to test my idea.  Not so much un-sewing this time.  

Hmmmm:  What to do, maybe add pleats every 2 inches or so to give more fabric around, maybe it will lay flat.  WORKS!

I guess this goes to say the Mother of Invention at least when quilting is a couple of major mess ups!   

Tutorial Testing

My VBF asked me this past week if I would help her out by testing one of her tutorials.  I must admit I did add an extra block.  But the tutorial is great.  Easy to follow and a really fun piece.

BROOKE AT SILLYMAMA QUILTS

I used Alison Glass fabrics with Kona solids for the crosses and border.  Such a fun color combination.  

All finished except to handset the binding down.  

Be sure to stop by Brooke's site and take a look at some of her great tutorials.  Brooke at Silly Mama Quilts