I Love My New Mini Quilt Block Coasters

Also, look what I learned how to do!

It's nifty, but a little of that gif goes a loooooong way--please feel free to scroll down until you can't see it! I'll wait!

That's more soothing, right? Now, let's begin.

As of today, I think I've finally broken out of my months-long obsession with mini quilt blocks--nothing like a seven-hour session sewing mini quilt blocks to finish up gifts for my two favorite members of the Class of 2024 to break me... I mean, break me OUT. Ahem.

I also might have damaged my mind by listening to A Court of Mist and Fury pretty much that entire time. At one point I walked through the family room, where both kids have so far spent their summer doing their darndest to keep the couch from flying away (and it makes my heart sing with joy to see it!), and I was all, "Kids! I am so worried about Feyre's plan to steal the Book of Breathings! I know she's the only person who can stop the King of Hyburn from using the magic cauldron, but you can't winnow into the building where it's hidden! It's too dangerous!"

The kids gave each other that look that I don't understand since I'm an only child, but I think it means something along the lines of "What are we going to do about Mom?", and then one of them carefully said, "Um, are you still reading that fairy smut?"

Y'all. This one is barely smutty at all! And it turns out that it's very good! It even provides some fixes for stuff from the first book that makes it less stupid!

Anyway... the grad gifts I sewed are sooooo darling, and as a bonus I was able to use up several practice mini quilt blocks I'd made without knowing what I wanted to do with them. Y'all KNOW how much I love using up stuff!

Before that, though, I made these!

Oh, and this guy, too:

I used the mini log cabin quilt blocks that I have the tutorial for here. I couldn't get the binding quite as tidy as I'd wanted--I'm a sucker for mitered corners without any real ability to attain them--but the stitching and piecing is just about as neat as I've ever done. I have FINALLY learned the lesson of picking a seam allowance and sticking to it!

Or not, because for this project I cut a ton of fabric 1.5" wide, and whenever I wanted to vary the finished width of a piece I played with varying my seam allowance. It only kind of worked, because for some reason I couldn't figure out how to make the log cabin pieces around the bee .5" wide after sewing a .25" seam on the other side to preserve my fussy cut bee--

But whatever. It still keeps my coffee from dripping onto the table:

My newest innovation comes from splurging on some gridded mylar stencil sheets, because I cut a template for the 1.5" square that let me fussy cut my pieces, perfectly centering the element I wanted to feature. That and these plastic sewing clips that I'm still delighted by have transformed my sewing for the better!

I've got a proper tutorial for sewing these coasters scheduled for Wednesday, and then I'll show off the patchwork quilted grad gifts that I'm SUUUUPER excited about. 

And then I should probably get started learning how to Foundation Paper Piece, because I can't send my baby off to college without a bookshelf quilt!

P.S. Want to know more about my adventures in life, and my looming mid-life crisis? Check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!