Super cute project -- from four fat eighths!

It's a table mat. It's a basket liner. It's a fun and quick project! 

You will need four fat eighths plus coordinating rickrack trim. 

Sew the fabric pieces together in pairs along the longest side, with rickrack in between. 

No pics of the rickrack insertion but here's how I did it: 1) Place rickrack on right side of fabric, along the longest side. Stitch right down the middle of the rickrack. 2) Sandwich rickrack between the two pieces of fabric, right sides together. Stitch through all layers carefully using the seam you already stitched as a guide. Press from right side, pressing all seams to one side. Topstitch through all layers of fabric. (See photo below.)

Place sewn together pairs of fabric right sides together. Line up and trim edges to match neatly. I waited until now to trim the selvage.

Sew a 3/8 inch seam on all 4 sides, leaving about 4-5 inches open for turning. Clip corners and turn to right side. Press.

Top stitch 1/8 inch along all sides. Press again.

Enjoy your bowl liner...basket liner...table mat...whatever!

Be sure to visit  Sew & Tell Fridays. Lots of eye candy this week!

Door County Weekend

Oooh, this week has been busy. 

Here it is Thursday and I am just getting around to telling you about last weekend! 

That was some kind of fancy-schmancy carbonated pink lemonade that was out of this world delicious.  I wish I could remember the name, it was soooo good.

I seem to be incapable of taking one of those hold-the-camera-at-arms-length type shots. 

How do those kids take those pics anyway? They're all over Facebook, you'd think I could figure it out.

Girls' weekend in Door County, that's what last weekend was all about. We had such a good time. 

Food, shopping, sightseeing, it was perfect. 

If you want to visit a popular tourist destination, time it right. In the case of Door County, May and September are perfect. You get beautiful weather without the crowds. 

Oh, oh, stop the car! I need to take a picture of this sunset! 

We visited a winery, spent 3 hours in a huge antique store, shopped at a market where we bought fudge and enjoyed free samples of cherry strudel and cherry doughnuts (yum!). 

And roamed through a bunch of other fun, touristy shops.

Another "Quilt for Kids"

Look at the adorable fabric for my next Quilt for Kids! Just arrived in my mailbox today. So fun! Robert Kaufman offers this collection, designed by Amy Schimler, specially for Quilts for Kids.

The panel will actually be the backing, so how cute will that be? I'm really excited to get started on it.

In other news -- deadheading is your friend. 

I am always hesitant to be too aggressive in snipping off the spent blossoms from my annuals. 

This year, I put pansies in my window box because they will withstand our Wisconsin frosts that occur this time of year. I love them because you can plant them very early with no worries. 

Just a week or so ago, they were not much more than greenery since I had deadheaded a bunch of expired blossoms. I could see lots of buds coming, but only one or two blooms. 

And now look at them! They are solid blooms and the colors are so very bright! 

I wish I had taken a picture of my window box full of greenery so you could see the progress.

As soon as the danger of frost has passed, 

I will repot the window box with an assortment of other annuals.

Shown above is a viola hanging basket that I bought at the same time. 

They don't seem to need any pruning. 

I plan to plant them directly in the ground eventually, but I'm not sure how long they will continue blooming. They love the cool temps right now, but can't stand the heat. 

Tulip Table Toppers

In the last week before Mother's Day, I decided I needed to make something for my mom and mother-in-law, as opposed to giving them the usual flowering hanging basket. 

So, what follows is my labor of love, which was completed at about midnight on the night before the holiday, as is standard form with me and my crazy last-minute ideas. I always think to myself "self, you are never making gifts right before a holiday again!" but I don't listen very well.

I used the Field of Tulips Quilt Pattern at Moda Bake Shop. I made four blocks from the pattern and sashed them together and used a solid yellow for the border. The two toppers are not exactly alike; the light pinks are two different fabrics.

I used a squiggly quilting pattern on one and kind of a scallop on the other. Maybe these quilting methods have other, more technical names?

I really like how they turned out, nice and bright for spring/summer.