Friday 18 April 2014

splash mat

I've been sewing up the chair cushions for our dining room, so I needed a leader and ender project.  If you haven't come across this method before, it's a way of wasting less thread.  Instead of cutting the thread after each set of chain piecing, you have a little pile of squares or HSTs that you can sew and then leave on the machine, ready for the next set of piecing.  Did that make any sense??  

Basically, whilst sewing some of the blocks for the chair cushions, I didn't want to get confused so sewed two pieces together for each block, cut them apart, pressed them and got the next piece ready.  When I'd finished the first set, instead of cutting my thread, I sewed together 2 mini charm squares and left them on the machine.  When I was ready for my next set of pieces, I just carried on sewing - no big lengths of thread left dangling.  


Very quickly those mini charm squares became this.  A very simple pattern, I used a Happy Go Lucky mini charm pack and an FQ of one of the prints.  I arranged the minis in colour order and sewed them into columns, each was then sewn to a strip of the FQ and finally a border of the same print was put on.


I sewed it right sides together with an old towel, turned through and top stitched.  I then quilted it using lines 1/4" from each seam, using the colour of the minis in each row.


This was a progress shot - does anyone else have a cutting table that looks like this??



Because of the right sides together and turn method, no binding!  Hurray!


The pattern I chose meant I didn't have to match up loads of seams, especially difficult with precuts I find, but my rows were wonkier than I thought, see the way the quilting curves?


I couldn't get a decent shot of the different colours of quilting, especially as the towel I backed it with is blue.


I love the finished product, shown here on top of the bunnies' run as there isn't a great deal of light on the floor of my kitchen.


And it does it's job well.  The previous one used a lot of white fabric and gets dirty so quickly, this won't show the dirt so much and now I can always have a mat down when one is being washed.


See, told you there's not much light on the kitchen floor. 
























14 comments:

Chrissie said...

Love the splash mat, and no binding! Unfortunately my table looks rather like your cutting mat and because my craft area is first in the front door it becomes a dumping ground as people walk through to the other rooms, I usually have to declutter before I start anything.

Josie said...

I love those colours and thanks for the stitching tip. Great upcycling with the towel. Happy Easter x

Sarah in Stitches said...

Great idea! I love the colors on this piece. :D

Pam @Threading My Way said...

I'd be super confused sewing two projects at the same time, but it's obviously worked well for you. Making a splash mat is a great idea. Good idea to use bright fabrics.

Anonymous said...

I like this idea! I'd given up on kitchen mats long, long ago, BUT having one that would catch some of my mess and could also be used to clean up the floor a bit (the toweling part) before throwing it into the laundry is a great idea. Yeah, I'm a lazy house cleaner and will freely admit it.

Sandra :) said...

Very pretty - I could never understand the usefulness of white kitchen linens - after one use they never look the same :D

JoJo said...

Personally I think that's just way too pretty to put on the floor and have get dirty!!!!

Jane said...

I love these, keep thinking I'm going to do one, and still haven't got around to it

margaret said...

what a cheerful mat to have on the kitchen floor. I use scraps of fabric but just at the beginning and end of chain piecing.You ask about our cutting table I wish! I have to use the kitchen worktops for cutting out my blocks.

Rachel said...

It looks good - and so satisfying to have something you've made doing the job!

Nicky said...

Lovely! Like a bonus project for very little effort.... and far too pretty to stand upon.

SuperMomNoCape said...

Love the fabrics you used... they're such happy fabrics!

Jo Ferguson said...

Yes.....I have a cutting table that looks like that. When I need it I move everything to the ironing board....and back again....and again. I love the colours of your mat, it looks great on the floor. It would also be nice to have the extra padding, underfoot.......I feel another project coming on.

Lorna McMahon said...

Adds a little happy to that spot on the floor! Lovely mat, Wendy!