Stash busting mat

One of the SBS projects I've made recently is a handy mat for the floor of my shed (studio).  My inspiration was the book Quilting in No Time by Emma Hardy where she has a pattern for a patchwork floor mat.  I have a kitchen area in the shed and I've been using a teatowel for a mat in front of the sink and every now and I then I would remember Emma's mat and think I should really make one but never got around to it.

I had this lovely fabric left over from my Faith, Hope, Love project and thought it would be perfect for a mat.  Really brighten up the kitchen area.

I didn't actually follow the pattern in the book but used it more as inspiration.  I decided to use the fabric for the backing, binding and applique pieces and I chose some blue fabrics for the applique background (front of the mat).

I used my teatowel as a guide for the size (seeing it seemed to work so well as a mat).

I pieced together 1.5" strips of the fabric into three rectangles measuring approx. 7" square. From these I cut 3 house shapes to applique onto the background.

I fused vliesofix to the back and ironed them onto the background piece.  I then just machine stitched close to the edge around the shapes - raw edge applique. 

By the way the idea for the house shapes came from the book Mixed and Stitched by Jen Osborn. She made her little houses into bunting which looked very nice hanging on her window.

I layered the mat as I would a quilt and quilted around the house shapes and along the seams joining the background piece.

The binding is just the background turned over to the front and machine stitched down.

My mat is 19" wide by 27" long.

I made mine from patchwork cotton fabric and cotton batting. The kitchen area of my studio doesn't get much 'foot traffic' but if I was going to make a mat for an area that did get a lot of traffic I would use a heavier fabric for the backing.

I'm really happy with it and am especially pleased because I made it from my stash.

Until next time

Lyn

 

 

 

Comments

[Susan]

This is so cute. Did you finish it? Im sure you enjoy looking at it everytime you walk by :)