February GOAL !!!! DONE !!!

Baby quilt basted ....... check !  That's it ..... just one baby quilt basted .  Knowing how I roll, I only set myself up for a simple little goal for the February 

Elm Street Quilts One-Monthly-Goal

......and there it is ..... Ta Daaaaaa !!!!  Now you may not think this is a big deal, but I'm feeling rather proud of myself for ignoring oh so many other things that I really should be doing and spending an hour focusing on accomplishing this teeny tiny goal. And now I'm motivated to start quilting this baby !!! In fact ..... I think I'll make that my goal for March ..... but of course I'm not about to overwhelm myself and say the whole thing will be quilted by the end of the month ....... unless of course my fairy godmother plans on making an appearance to declutter my house and get all my stacks of paperwork for the day job all caught up.  No ..... nope .... lets just go with getting 1/3  -> 1/2 of the quilting finished  .   Yep ..... I think just taking small bites at a time is the way to go !

                                     
                                                        Be back soon !
                                                        Toodles !
                                                        Mary Anne ( aka Mare)

The Very Last Possible Minute Valentine's Day Mug Rug

So..... here is this year's Valentine's project  ..... put together at the very last possible minute ( well not quite ... I guess if it was 11:59 it would be the last possible minute ) .  Anyway , this is a simple, easy mug rug I put together really quickly when I really didn't have the time to step over and shove over piles of work I should be doing instead !)  

First I made 2 different size paper heart patterns.  The smaller heart is about 3/4 inch smaller all around than the larger heart.

I used pinking shears to cut out a red wool felt heart from the larger pattern. 

Next,  using the smaller heart pattern, cut out 2 fabric hearts and 1 heart out of batting. (I just had to use my I Love Lucy fabric !  Perfect for this project !! )

Layer the batting to the wrong side of one of the fabric hearts.

Next layer the fabric/batting combo on top of the other fabric heart , right sides together.

Now with 1/4" seam allowance , stitch all the way around the heart sandwich , through all 3 layers. 

Clip the curves and the point to make smoother turning.  Also, I found it helpful to trim the seam allowances around the curves for smoother turning and less bulk.  Careful not to cut into your seam !

Now pull the layers apart.....

and CAREFULLY cut about a 2 inch slit in the fabric heart .  Now turn the heart out to the right side through this slit.  No need to stitch up the slit since it will be covered by the wool felt heart. 

Smooth out your points and curves and press.

Last step :  layer your fabric heart (slit side down) on the wool felt heart.  Stitch 1/4" around the entire fabric  heart to attach it and quilt it.  You can stop there or  do more quilting on the fabric heart ( maybe more smaller concentric hearts or cross hatch) .

So there it is ..... my quick and easy Valentine Mug Rug !  Perfect with my I Love Lucy mug!!!  Happy sewing and Happy Valentine's Day !!!

Be back soon !!

Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Just under the wire !!! February One Monthly Goal

(SIGH) .......OK ....... so here we are a month later and so much for my big plan to participate in the January "One Monthly Goal" by Elm Street Quilts. I was all"I plan to spend just 10 - 20 minutes a day sewing" blah blah blah .  OK .... so that didn't happen .   Let's just move on to this month's "One Monthly Goal" challenge ...... which I signed up for at the last possible minute ...... well I signed up with just 2 hours left until the deadline ( thus the title of this blog post )

ANYWAY ....... this is my February  goal.  This is a baby quilt I started about 2 years ago for my niece's baby ( who is now 15 months old).

I finished up all the applique ......

and now my goal is to get it basted , quilted, and get the binding on and send this quilt off to my niece and her baby girl before that baby girl is old enough to go to college !!!!!  OK ...... so maybe basting, quilting AND binding is biting off way more than I can chew for a one month goal ........ so lets just go with getting this thing basted  ....... anything else that gets done from now until the end of February will be icing on the cake !!!   I better get moving ...... February is a short month !!!!   Here's the link Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal February

Also linking up with Cooking up Quilts for Main Crush Monday ( now that it's Wednesday !)  Here's the link Main Crush Monday

Be back soon!

Toodles,

Mary Anne ( aka Mare)