I have been enjoying the gift of this wood heart shaped tray since Valentine’s Day. To celebrate spring I have filled it with lavender and yellow Coin Ruched flowers.
Most are made with the TR700 Jumbo Coin Ruching Guide produced by Quilting Creations International, TR500 was used for the smaller ones.
Put a stop to the endless rearranging of hot pads and trivets on a buffet table with this Jumbo “Hot Spot” Table Mat. Cover the entire buffet with this “Hot Spot” and it is easy to adjust dishes and keep the buffet surface protected.
Simple to make with the following materials.
1 1/2 yards each 100% cotton top and back fabrics
1/4 yard 100% cotton binding fabric
1 1/2 yards Insul-brite
Thread to match fabrics
Prewash fabrics and press. Cut one piece from each fabric the width of the Insul-brite (about 23 inches). You may adjust the size to fit your table space.
Layer back, Insul-brite and top. Trim ends square and even. Back and top fabrics will probably shrink and shift some, and you want it to do this before you sew and bind.
Mark some lines to quilt, or stencil a design to quilt. You don’t have to quilt closely as Insul-brite is well bonded.
Secure the layers with quilters safety pins. Use a walking or even-feed foot on your sewing machine to quilt along lines you have marked. Or machine quilt freestyle.
Use a binding fabric that goes with both sides for a reversible “Hot Spot”. I chose sunflowers for late summer and fall, and poinsettias for Christmas for this one. The first one I made is Christmas on one side and Valentines on the other. I am planning Easter and summer flowers for the next one.
“Hot Spots” are machine washable and dryable.
Selecting the right binding and finishing technique for your quilt is important. Whether you are making for yourself, as a gift or entering is competitions, how the quilt is finished plays big in first impressions.
This little quilt was made by Carol Williams and machine quilted by Kathy Conway. A Challenge at Quilt Til You Wilt, in Odessa, WA, several years ago, had Carol receiving my bag of scraps to create a quilt top and she made cats, knowing I like them. I asked Kathy to quilt before it is finished, including it in my experiment of embellishing after quilting. Kathy did a beautiful job.
Now the kitties will get faces and whiskers, and some coin ruched and gathered blossoms to lounge among.
Your part in this project is to select a finishing option. A. scrappy binding, as on the left side in the photo. B. brown stripe that matches the skinny border, as on the right. C. the pink border fabric. D. since I have not trimmed the quilt, I could add another narrow border of the brown strip and finish with the scrappy binding.
Please vote for your selection, or make other finishing suggestions in the comments below.
Quilts that get folded the same way all the time, develop creases that won’t come out. Folding quilts on the bias, helps prevent this, and it is easier to fold to a size that fits in your storage space.
First, lay the quilt to be folded, pretty side down on a bed or large table. Grasp any corner and bring it to within 3-4 inches of the opposite edge.
Next, working clockwise, grasp the point just made and bring it 3-4 inches past the opposite edge.
Then, still working clockwise, grasp the next corner and bring it 3-4 inches within or just past the folded edge, or as in the photo below, I have folded so the edge to the front of the picture is twice the width of the shelf I will be placing it on.
Now grasp the fourth corner and bring it to within 3-4 inches or just past the folded edge. My shelves are 18 inches deep so this bias fold is 18 inches from the front edge.
Why 3-4 inches within or just past the point or edge? It prevents you folding in the same place, as it is harder to guess the same each time.
If your quilt is bigger, you may need to fold the quilt in half a couple of times, but all your folds will still be on the bias. Here is the quilt folded in half once to fit my selves.
You notice the quilt is folded pretty side out? This makes any creasing that might happen if something heavy gets piled on the quilts be on the backside of the quilt. If you are concerned about them getting dirty, store each quilt inside a cotton pillowcase.
I am a prewash every fabric person. I want the sizing removed for applique and the grain of the fabric to relax and straighten out. This trick makes washing those large pieces easy and you don’t get wadded up wrinkles.
Open up the fabric all the way so it is a single layer. Accordion fold along one selvage edge, about 15-18 inches wide. Using rust free quilting pins, pin through all layers, every 2 inches. DON’T pin the other selvage. Wash, either by machine or by hand.
When it comes from the washer, it will look a mess. DON’T try to straighten it out. Just toss it in the dryer and dry.
When it is dried it will look better, but not much. Don’t panic. Rummage around in the fabric until you find the selvage edge where the pins are. Grip that in both hands and start shaking. After a dozen or so good brisk shakes, most of the folds will have returned to the right spot with no twisted up wrinkles.
Here we have, washed and shaken out fabric. No wrinkles and very few frayed threads on the cut edge.
The Piecing Pals, Coin Ruching Guides are used to mark even scallop shapes for hand stitching around and form petals that can be shaped into flowers and other dimensional embellishment. Frixion pens are very handy for marking the strips. A burst of hot air from a hand held hair dryer will remove any marks that might show after ruching.
The top strip was cut 5 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric (WOF)
The second strip was cut 2 1/2 inches by WOF and the bottom strip was cut 1 1/2 inches by WOF. Wrong side was folded together and the raw edges basted together about 1/8th inch from the raw edge along the length of the strip. DO NOT PRESS, you want to keep the folded edge pliable. This step will keep the layers in place while you mark and stitch. If you are using the Coin Ruched Blossom Guide and circles of fabric, no basting is required.
These Piecing Pals Coin Ruching Guides are designed by me, produced by Quilting Creations International and are available at most quilt shops and online outlets. The guides are used to mark the stitching line for gathering the fabric into petals. Each size and style has complete instructions included in the packet. A strip the width of fabric will make a 2-3 inch blossoms with the Small (TR400) or Large Guide (TR500), 2 strips of fabric are needed for the 5-6 inch (TR700) Jumbo size. The Blossom Guide (TR600) is for 7 3/4-8 inch circles.
Create a bold bouquet of blossoms with our NEW Jumbo Coin Ruching Guide TR700, produced by Quilting Creations International, and bring spring into your home early. You can make the flowers for Big Ruched Bouquet and Doily #1601 or embellish quilts and apparel. Big blossoms make a bold statement adorning hats, purses and tote bags. The possibilities are endless for decorating with these easy floral beauties.