Meet The Coasters

I'm sick of looking at my old stuff.  Let's look at some new stuff!

I was in need of something insulated to put under my hot and/or drippy cups, bowls, and plates.  I missed the mug rug craze of a few years ago, so I'm just getting on the bandwagon now.  I see why it was so popular - these are fun and quick to make. 

I made all of these with Insul-Bright batting instead of regular batting.

 

This one is 8 inches square.   I thought I should make these from my scrap bin in order to decrease the population somewhat.  I started out searching there and found a couple of prints I liked - the dark Kaffe Fasset at the top and the green/purple one on the right.  But so much in the scrap bin is old and uninteresting, so I branched out to my regular stash.   

I'm going to go through my scrap bin this weekend and throw out the scraps I don't like!!!  It's so annoying to keep pulling little bits of fabric out and saying "ugly, nope, not this one either" for most everything in there.

Block # 118 in 130 Mini Quilt Blocks was my inspiration for the Courthouse Steps coaster above.  It's not like I didn't know how to do Courthouse Steps, but the blocks in this book are made with such pretty fabric that you see them in a whole new light.   Her's was done in beautiful pinks and greens and that's why the block caught my eye. 

There are lots of variations of Log Cabins in this book, all of them beautiful.  This is block # 125: Wide and Narrow Spiral.  This coaster is 6 inches square.  

This is not from that book.  At my guild's Service Project Sew Day last week, one of my friends showed us how she makes these string blocks.  I made four teeny ones so I could piece them into a coaster.  Now I had to decide what arrangement to use when piecing them.

This is one way to sew them together.  When you have an entire quilt of this, it's really pretty.  And with that big yellow X in the center, you know where to place your cup or bowl!!!

Maybe I want them like this?

I settled on this third arrangement.  It's a little bulky right in the center where all the points meet, even though I trimmed some fabric away.  When I set a cup on it, it's a little tippy.  Oh well.  It doesn't really matter because it's 7.5 inches square and I intended it for plates and bowls, both of which work fine.

I showed you this one in November, as part of November Firsts.  But it's a coaster, so I had to include it in Meet the Coasters.

Erin, the founder of Sewing Summit, held Mug Rug Madness back in 2011.  After looking at those pictures, I'm inspired to try something a little more creative than the simple quilt blocks I made.  I want to make some without a pattern.