Star of the Show

 

    Ready to finish those cork coasters?

    You don't really need to foundation paper piece the fabric layer.  Any fun fabric will make a cute coaster!  I made 2 with flags, one red one and one blue one.

    You will need cork, a craft knife, scraps of Steam-a-Seam2 and thread to match your cork.  You will also need a circle shape that measures about 4 1/2" to cut the cork and pattern for the star.  I used my Creative Girds Circle Templates and an old CD for the circle template and I drew the star.  If you have problems drawing a star, Google "star clipart" and download one.  Then trim it to measure about 4" or any size that fits well inside your cork circle.

Step 1.  Working on your cutting mat, use your craft knife to cut out two circles for each coaster.  I used an old CD for my cork pattern.  

Yes that is a "vintage" CD.  Do kids today even know what "dial-up" means?

Use your star template to draw the shape on the back of one of the cork pieces.  Use your craft knife to cut out the shape.  Don't limit yourself to stars.  Get creative!  If you are having a card party, why not make coasters and cut the shapes in diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs?

Apply a piece of Steam-a-Seam2 to the back of your fabric layer following the manufacturer's instructions.  Add a few scraps of the Steam-a-Seam2 to the back of the cork cutout too.  

The Steam-a-Seam2 is sticky, like a post-it and will hold the layers together while you stitch.

Trim your fabric layer slightly smaller than the cork circle.  I used my circle templates for this because the CD is slightly larger than 4 1/2" so the circle cut with the template fit perfectly inside.

Layer the fabric face up on the back of the solid cork circle and press in place with an iron.

Place the cutout on top of the fabric and align the edges.  Press in place.

Top stitch around the outer edge and around the star shape using thread to match the cork.

That is all there is too it!

It's a Grand Old Flag

Grab a beverage, this post is going to be longer than usual!

    A few nights ago I woke up around 3am, thinking about coasters.  The kind of coasters that go under your drink, not the kind with thrills and hills.

    Do not ask me why coasters were so important at 3am.  I have no idea why my brain works the way it does.  I do know that isn't unusual for me to wake up in the middle of the night and lay awake mentally working through the step-by-step process of sewing something together.

    Because the 4th of July is just around the corner, I thought a flag project would be a perfect coaster.  I mentally paper pieced the flag part - no problem there.  It was how to finish the edges that kept me awake until after 5am.

     I didn't want to turn them under. I didn't want to add a binding.  Pinked edges seemed too informal.  In the wee hours I finally decided that cork might work and promptly went back to sleep.

    Oddly enough, I can explain the cork process in just a few steps - and I will in another post.  But first you have to foundation paper piece the flag and that explanation is going to take some effort. 

    Step 1.  Draft the pattern.  You can do this!  The U.S, flag is mostly stripes, so the easiest way to make the pattern is to use a piece of notebook paper.  The stripes are built in!  Cut a square about 5 1/2" square.  

    The flag has 13 stripes, so mark off 13 rows and mark the rows, alternating Red and White on the left side of the paper.  You should begin and end with red.  Those 13 stripes should measure around 4 1/2". 

    Next measure in from the left side 3" and draw a vertical line from the top of the page down past the top 8 rows.

    That is it, your pattern is finished!  

    Time to grab some red, white and blue fabric scraps.  Choose a white that is as opaque as possible.  You don't want to see those red threads shadowing through.  I cut the strips 1 1/4", which is REALLY generous, but I would rather trim than scrimp.  I cut the blue square 3 1/2".  Once again, SUPER generous, but better too much than too little.  After all, we are working with scraps!

    Step 2.  The process is called foundation paper piecing.  You will be working upside down and backwards.  This means that you will have fabric on the bottom and your paper pattern will be covering it up.  Trust me, it works!  Turn the paper pattern over.  You will be placing the fabric on the back.

    Place one strip of red so that it covers the top right corner, all of the top red stripe and most of the 2nd stripe that is white.  The fabric strip should span from about 1/4" over that vertical line on the left to off the paper on the right.  This strip should be right side up.  I used batiks, so it is difficult to tell the right side from the wrong side.

 

    Now place a strip of white, face down, on top of that red strip.  I nudge that white strip a tiny bit over the red fabric, just to make sure the red doesn't show through the white later.

    BEFORE YOU SEW, thread your machine with white top and bobbin thread and REDUCE YOUR STITCH LENGTH - a lot.

    I reduce my stitch length to 1.0.  That puts a ton of stitches in each inch.  Those stitches perforate the paper so that it is very easy to remove when the block is complete.  The bad news is, if you make a mistake, you have a TON of stitches to rip out!  

    Hold the fabrics in place as you gently turn the paper over and slide it into your machine.  I use a presser foot with a center mark so that it is easy to follow the printed line.  

    

    You are ready to sew on the line between the top red row and the second white row.  You should see the fabric extending into the row marked white.  

    Your stitching should be tiny stitches, directly on the line printed on the paper. 

      Turn the unit over, fabric side up.  Open the fabrics and press either with an iron or a wooden press bar.  You can trim any excess fabric that extends on the right hand side beyond the paper pattern

    Turn the unit over, paper side up.  This is where I use a stiff piece of cardstock.  I happen to have the ad for Aurifil Thread handy and it worked perfectly.  For short seams a postcard or any stiff paper will work well.  It helps to have a firm edge to fold the paper against.

    Align the paper with the printed line at the BOTTOM of the white stripe.  This is where your next stitching line will be.  That is where you want to FOLD the paper.  Fold the paper back, over the cardstock to reveal the fabric underneath.  

    Now you can trim the excess fabric.  Make sure that you TRIM  1/4" from the fold to allow for seam allowance.  You DO NOT want to trim ON the printed line, you want to trim 1/4" past the printed line where you will sew.

    Unfold the paper, set the cardstock aside and turn the unit fabric side up.  Place another strip of red fabric on top of the white, having the right sides together.

    Hold the fabric in place as you turn the unit over and stitch on the second line, at the bottom of the white stripe.

    Repeat.  Continue adding fabric strips, folding the paper back, trimming and pressing until you have added four red and three white stripes.

    You have been adding stripes to the left side of the paper pattern.  When the fabric side is face up, the stripes are on the right, where they should be.  This is what I meant by upside down and backwards!

    The next step is to add the blue section.  I used a 3 1/2" square of fabric.  Most of that will be cut off and end up in the trash.  One thing you learn when foundation paper piecing is that too big is much better than too small!  Don't skimp!

    Before adding the blue square, gently pull the paper away from the fabric.  Use the cardstock to help you fold the paper on the vertical line and trim the excess fabric to create a nice clean edge.  Don't forget to leave the 1/4" seam allowance in place!

    Place the blue square on top of the red and white stripes having the right sides together and one edge even with the trimmed edge toward the center of the paper.  The blue square should extend all the way to the bottom of the last red stripe.  Stitch in place by sewing on the vertical line you drew in step 1.

    Flip the unit over.  Open the blue fabric square and press.  

It is starting to look like a flag!

    Time to trim the bottom edge and add the next white stripe.  This stripe will extend all the way across the pattern. 

    Keep going!  Sew, fold, trim, press, until all of the stripes have been added.

This is important!  

    To make the coasters we will be trimming the flag into a circle. 

I want you to understand how to finish trimming, just incase you want to make your flag into a square or rectangle.

    The left and right edges can be trimmed even with the edge of the paper or they can be trimmed 1/4" away, depending on your desired seam allowance.

    The top and bottom edge MUST be trimmed 1/4" ABOVE and BELOW the line printed on the paper.  That adds the seam allowance to the top and bottom stripes!

 Now you can remove the paper!  Simply peel it away.

    To make the coasters we will be trimming the flag into a 4 1/2" circle.  I have the set of Creative Grids Circle Templates to use.  If you don't own circle templates, look around the house for something 4 1/2" round.  Find an old CD if you can.  Gather up those, your cork and a craft knife and I will post the instructions for assembling the coasters in my next blog post. 

The Expanding Quilt

     I love the FedEx delivery person.  We have never met, but when my doorbell rings and nobody is there, I always find a wonderful surprise that has been left for me on my doorstep.  

    Earlier this month a package with these beauties arrived.  This fabric line is Scarlet Stitches and White Linen by Color Principal, from Henry Glass Fabrics.

     As part of my Brand Ambassador duties for Jaftex I receive a package every few weeks.  The package always includes cuts of one of their not-yet-released fabric lines.  This bundle also included several spools of Aurifil thread!  How lucky can a girl get?  It is my responsibility to make those fabrics into something beautiful that will show off the fabrics and hopefully have you running to your local quilt shop to buy the fabrics so that you can do the same.

        I always like to check out the FREE pattern on the fabric company website before I begin.  I want to make sure that whatever I design is totally different than what is already available.  The free project for Scarlet Stitches and White Linen is absolutely beautiful!  It was designed by Heidi Pridemore and it features the panel print in those center squares.  You can download this pattern from the Henry Glass website by clicking here:  FREE PATTERN  The free project is large and complicated, so I decided mine should be small and simple.  The group is red/white/grey but the grey has a blue tint.  I just happen to have a bolt - yes a whole bolt - of a Henry Glass basic in the perfect shade of light blue.  I also decided that the pieces should be large so that you can tell the prints apart.  I had 10 fabrics to work with, 5 dark background and 5 light background.  Instant checkerboard!

    Some quick computer work and I had a plan!  Six large light background blocks surrounded by dark background blocks with connector blocks using that addition of blue.  I had to be careful about the fabric placement in those connector blocks but that would be easy.  Except.....

Once I had those pieces on my design wall I liked this project, a lot.  I had plenty of fabric, so why not make a few more blocks?  The simple six blocks became twelve.  

The "small and simple" plan went out the window.  All of those connector blocks were already made to match the fabrics on all 4 sides.  I went back to the computer, then graph paper and it was more than a bit of frustration.  It was worth it, because this project deserved to be a larger quilt.  The quilt looked great on my design wall.  But, I still had fabric left......

Then twelve became twenty!

Back to the drawing board once again.  My goal was to plan the placement of the fabrics in relationship to the connector blocks so that I didn't have to rip or remake any of those connectors.  It worked!  It took every last inch of fabric, but I was able to make it happen.  I am very happy with this much, much larger than originally planned quilt.

    

 The quilt has an understated Americana look and is perfect for display on all of the summer holidays.  Special thanks to Chris, my neighbor across the street, for the loan of his front porch for this pix.

  

    

   

Branding

    In between my regular design and sample sewing responsibilities I have been a busy Brand Ambassador for Jaftex in the last few weeks.  I truly enjoy a creative challenge, so getting a package of fabric in the mail and deciding what to make with it can be a really fun puzzle.  It is important that the project show off the fabric. The project(s) also have to be completed in a reasonably short period of time.  And I have a limited amount of fabric to work with.  Cue the Mission Impossible theme....

      A few weeks ago this bundle of fall goodies show up on my doorstep.  Hello Fall from Henry Glass includes lots of small prints, light backgrounds and warm toasty colors.  I immediately set the center of the panel print aside for a table runner project.  It will be part of the Holiday Fun Bundle that you will hear all about later this summer.  

    I decided these prints would be perfect for smaller projects rather than a large quilt.  One of the fun parts of this Brand Ambassador gig is that I don't have to write instructions for the projects I make.  I can use a printed pattern, write a new one or simply make it up as I go along.

    I decided to start with a few "make it up" placemats.  You truly do not need a pattern for this project.  Simply start with the feature square (cut from the panel)  and sew and flip strips around it in an interesting pattern.  I choose to iron the backing to a rectangle of fusible fleece batting so that my "sew and flip" is also "quilt as you go".  Setting the feature square off to the side, gives it a more creative look than placing it dead in the center.  One of the busy prints with the light background made a perfect backing and hid all of the starts and stops in my quilting lines.  I made two, because I have two bar stools at our kitchen counter, so these will be perfect this fall.

    I needed to make more than just two easy placemats from this group, so I used part of the border stripe to decorate a tea towel.  Another of the panel pieces was used to make a hot pad including extra layers of batting and the heat resistant silver fabric for the backing.

    With one cute pumpkin block left, I decided to make a Four Square Placemat using one of my $2.50 patterns.  No binding, no hand sewing.  I used the same fusible fleece batting from Pellon that I always use in my placemats and table runners.  I really like the rounded corners on this one! 

    Then it was time to take the photos that you see here.  I pulled out props, ran to the store for some fresh baked goods, and did my best to make my house at the beach look like fall in the middle of May.  Photo shoots are crazy days around here.  I make a heck of a mess, but at least my husband was happy eating the leftover props!  Hello Fall should be in stores by the time you are reading this. - Enjoy!