long awaited coasters

Since we have been married (4 years!) we have never owned coasters– despite having many nice wood surfaces that tremble at the thought of careless condensation! Pretty lame, I will admit! There is always a scramble for a paper towel, unused place mat, sock, plate, burp-cloth, you name it. It has gone on long enough! But before you jump to conclusions about the many reasons why it has taken SO long, let me tell you about a chronic condition I came down with many years ago called “I can make that.”

Here’s how it usually goes: “oooo, this is GREAT! Honey do you like it!?” “Yea, that is great, lets get it, how much is it?” I turn it over to reveal the price and then tell Honey with disappointment. “That’s not bad, seems worth it,” he says. “WHAT? That is awful… I can make that.” I say as I put it back on the shelf and longingly step away. As we get ready to leave the store Honey says “Aren’t you going to get that?” “What?” “The thing.” “No, I can make that.” “But you don’t!” “Shut up!” And so my list grows, more ideas clog my brain and our lack of coasters continued.

These little quilted gems are from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, which I am in love with by the way. I decide to do these coasters over something much more simple because I learned to use my fancy quilting foot, it worked like a charm. Instead of one rectangle to make the folded square that resulted in the same pattern on both sides, I created the rectangle with two different fabrics from Joel Dewberry’s Aviary collection, and then continued the directions by the book. The pattern calls for a high loft quilt batting as the facing which I used, but I am not all the impressed with the idea. They turned out much more flat and non-cushy than I was hoping, I think they would have much better absorption and probably even look loftier if two or three pieced of cotton flannel were used in place of the batting. I am sure that I will be making at least a couple more sets of these as I have proved to be pretty repetitive with new projects, meaning my current obsession with totes and bags, so when I try it I will let you know.

Currently there are eight of these floating around the house, but we often cannot find three or four of them, turns out they moonlight as 12 month old teething-toys! So in the pics there are only six, the ones I could find today.