Look what I made!!!

I’m so excited about these because they are technically my very first real quilts that are made following all the traditional quilt construction rules and everything! That’s kind of a big deal for me because I rarely make stuff the way I’m supposed to…laziness, shortcuts, instant gratification…you know; all that stuff.

Anyway, I saw a really neat looking kid size quilt in this book called Craft Hope, and I just liked how it looked but I didn’t want to make an actual blanket size quilt. Also, I had had this idea in my mind for a while to make quilted placemats for the kids with the thought that when they spilled their milk or whatever, that the quilt placemats would soak everything up before it ran across the table, into my lap…that’s the idea anyway. So, I decided to make the placemat quilts using some of the design elements I liked so much from the quilt in that book.

I love that spider web fabric…(As per usual, I didn’t take any construction photos, so I’m posting approximately one million finish shots.)

My mom and dad came for a visit in February and my mom helped me put the quilt tops together (she’s all experienced and stuff). Especially helpful was when she showed me the secret to making the border that looks like a bunch of teeny squares all sewed together individually (man, I’m dumb sometimes).

The sad reality is that most of the “secrets” would be revealed to me if I took five minutes to read the words on the opposite page of the pretty photos in all those books I like to look through…

One of the nice things about being a fabric hoarder is that I think I only bought the cotton batting for this project. I made sure to use 100% cotton batting and fabrics to help keep the kids milk out of my lap. I’m hoping all that cotton will soak it up like a shammy…we’ll see. (If you decide to do the same, remember not to use fabric softener on them because it would be kind of like scotch guarding them – no good.)

I even did the binding just like you’re supposed to! I followed my book called First-Time Quiltmaking, word for word when doing all the finishing. I love that book. I especially love that it’s spiral bound with big glossy color pages so I can just lay it down flat next to my sewing machine and look over when needed (which was often). When they say “first time quiltmaking”, they really mean it and it has a ton of great close-up color construction photos with detailed explanations. It’s pretty much written for a four-year-old. Perfect.

Stitching in the ditch is harder than it sounds though…I kept accidentally climbing out of the ditch even though I was going very slowly and deliberately along the ditch. Maybe black thread on top wasn’t the best choice…???

Ta-da!!!