While the Cat’s Away…

Mick and a mate went to a motorcycle rally on the weekend and left me home all alone. 

So, I played!

I bought this little bundle of fat quarters last Christmas because they were cute.  They don’t match our house at all and I had no idea what I was going to do with them.

Now I have a nice little parcel for someone.

Through the year I have seen a couple of versions of Skinny Verna, so this is my Christmas version. I just love it.

I had fun playing with moving the needle on my machine to get the exact 1/4” with the walking foot for the quilting and for the first time put a binding on all by machine.  I wanted a narrow binding so had only cut it 2” wide.  This was a bit too narrow for this technique, so I ended up doing a little top stitch on the front instead of in the ditch.  I think it actually suits the runner better anyway.

I still don’t know what I’ll do with the rest of the fabric, but I’ll think of something.

Then I made these placemats for my brother and his wife for Christmas. They will suit their dining room well and should also suit this month’s Early Bird challenge.

They are also very different colours to what I would usually use but I love the look of them. 

As I wanted to quilt them within an inch of their life rather than a quarter of an inch (or I’d still be going at Christmas) I was looking for a suitable marker.  Then I remembered that I have a Hera Marker which I have never used.  It worked well, although I had trouble seeing the mark once it was under the light near the machine needle.  I sewed the binding on by machine as well.  The first couple are a bit dodgy on the back, but by the end it was going pretty well.  I think I’ll use this technique a bit more.