CUTE LITTLE MAT Posted on 23 Mar 17:10 , 0 comments

I'm always looking for ...
  • a quick hostess gift
  • a quick gift for the guest room
  • an easy sew project for beginning sewers
  • fun quick and easy gifts for a holiday basket
  • new ways to add seasonal decor items to make my home more cozy
  • a project the recycles or re-purposes found items around the house
  • a project that works as a stash buster
So you can imagine my delight when I found this tutorial for a kitchen dish-mat. I did make some changes in size to fit my towel remnant and added some stitch-in-the-ditch lines along the stripe seams.
You can see how I used one of my tired dish towels as a backing for this cute little mat. Before I sewed the cotton striped front to the towel I trimmed all of the hemmed edges from the towel. This removed extra bulk and released the edges of the towel a little so it would lay more flat for me while I was sewing the two pieces together. And, of course, I squared both pieces before pinning them together for the sewing step. I like how my cute little mat looks on my kitchen counter by the sink or hanging on the oven door handle.
  • I can see these cute little mats rolled into an Easter basket full of goodies for mom.
  • I can see these cute little mats done up in bright summery prints and becoming a regular staple in our Tanglewood picnic supper basket.
  • I can see these cute little mats done up to match the colors and themes of my guests rooms to use as a catch all on the dresser or in the guest bathroom for people who come to visit us during the holidays and summer and leaf season.
Wouldn't the cute little mats be a fun addition to a sewing basket when we have "lunch at our machines" during class break?  These cute little mats would make festive holiday cloths to be used with babies and seniors for a quick clean-up.
  • I will definitely have several of these cute little mats done up in fabrics to match my kitchen
  • I will be sorting and gathering through my holiday fabric stash to put together these cute little mats hostess gifts and holiday drop-in gifts to have on hand.
Need a gift for a secret pal? Looking for something for the quilt guild gift exchange? Start now stitching up these cute little mats so you're all ready when holiday times roll around.                                                                                                                                                                                            However, in all my planning, I do have ONE PROBLEM. I did not move all my old tired worn out towels with us from Oregon to Massachusetts last year. sigh ... but ... I do have LOTS OF BATTING SCRAPS. Yeah! this will be a perfect project to use up those long skinny pieces of batting left along the sides of quilts after we trim away. I will add a cotton backing (more stash busting) rather than the terrycloth and I'm off and running with stitching up my cute little mats once more.
Send in your photos of cute little mats to share with all of us, too. Would love to what you're doing. Just drop me an email with your photo and I'll make up a gallery for our postings.

 

... be brave ... be bold ...

... make and share the music of your soul ...