A little Flimsie

It's been a while again since I posted; there is not much going on here in the sewing room. I thought I would be finishing some UFO's after I counted them but I lost momentum.
I did put some blocks together for a baby quilt that I will finish in a couple of weeks when I go to the retreat from our church group. No photos of that yet.

I have been looking online for some backing fabric so I can finish some of my UFO's. It is getting to be a bigger deal all the time to get out to a quilt shop.

This is the little project I worked on today.





















I bought the pattern last year and came across it last week and decided to make a small table topper with left overs from the place mats I made recently. Of course, when I looked for the pattern again it was buried under a mountain of stuff that should have been put away. I spent 2 days on and off looking for it.
It went together quickly and easily even though I changed the construction method a little because I wanted the center hexagon to be one piece.  I added the orange border because by using the size hex that I cut  it worked out to be a smaller size. It is 19 inches across at the points. I never checked my math before I started as to what the finished size would be. I read the directions and had a pretty good idea of what I was doing and I just started. Now if I can keep at it another couple of hours (tomorrow) I will have a finish.

More Placemats

I changed my plan to put the truck fabric on the back of the place mats for my granddaughter. Instead I made place mats for the three younger great grandsons. One of them was here visiting yesterday and today so I finished his for him to take home.
I got him to smile for the photo but he tried to hide behind the place mat.

This is the fabric on the back. I thought it might be to "little kiddish" but my daughter said they would like it because they all still like to draw and color.

Yesterday after dinner he wanted to know if I was going to go back to my sewing room because he likes to hang out with me there.
So we hung out and I printed some face masks from the Internet (he chose skulls) and we colored them and put them on and went outside to the family room door to scare everyone there. I wish I had a picture of it but I think I deleted it when my daughter sent it to me.

We had fun even though we don't have a photo to prove it

even if no one was scared.

Another Finish

The baby quilt is finished. I sewed the binding on yesterday, using my usual method of stitching to the front and turning to the back. I use thin strips of Wonder Under to fuse the binding down before I stitch it from the front.
For baby or kids quilts I usually stitch with the serpentine stitch. For other quilts I stitch in the ditch along the binding. You can see the front and back in the photo. I forgot to change the bobbing to variegated thread, which I used on the front. I doesn't show the color well in the pictures. It is a very pale pastel that shows up more in real life.

To go with the placemats I finished this week, I made these two hexie hot pads. I found the tutorial here on "sewshecan"  blog; they measure 7 x 10. I used some of the fabrics from the bundle that I didn't use for the placemats. I have more fabric from the bundle and the extra yardage I bought for the backing so I will be making something else before I add the rest to the scrap basket.

A Finish and an Almost

I finished the "Take Four" placemats today. I think it is the first finish since the wedding quilt. I used the print with the white background for the backing on all 6 (like the dominant fabric in the top left placemat).

I made these according to the pattern and turned it pillow cover style. I had a little bit of a hard time doing the hand stitching to close the openings, holding a hand sewing needle really hurts my thumbs. Halfway through the 3rd one I took some Advil and took a break for a while and finished up after the Advil kicked in. I know I need to take something before I start any hand work but I don't always remember. Anyway the openings turned out good and would be hard to spot.  I have some extra fabric left and will make some Hex hot pads to go with these. they are a birthday gift for a granddaughter.















I am almost finished with the baby quilt. Yesterday I got the variegated thread for the sashings,  a nice pastel with all of the colors that are in the quilt border. I finished up all the quilting today and have  only the binding to do. I have white binding made and ready to go.

The closeup shows the colors in the quilt well, although the serpentine stitching with the variegated thread shows up better in real life. I think it was a better choice than either of the two threads I had considered..

It is a cheerful little quilt and it makes me happy to look at it. I hope the baby feels the same.