How to Sew a Mini Quilt Block Coaster

A mini quilt block coaster is a useful–and beautiful!–way to destash some of your prettiest quilting cottons.

I do not know what happens to all of my coasters! Over the years I’ve made tile coasters, chalkboard coasters, and endless quilt block coasters, and nearly all of those are simply… gone! To be honest, I probably don’t want to know why they go missing so regularly in the house I share with my partner and two teenagers, but just between us, I suspect foul play.

It’s fine, though. I do LOVE the hexagonal rainbow quilt block coasters that I sewed four years ago–rather, I love the single one of those that still exists in my family room!–but change is fun. Anyway, a new set of coasters is a great way to destash a bit of my quilting cotton!

For this project, I was specifically excited about destashing the last bit of a super cute honeybee print that I’ve had for quite a while and was down to its very last 1/16 or so of a yard. There wasn’t a panel of it wide enough to do much of anything with, but there were just enough bees left on it, at just the right size, for me to fussy cut the center piece of a set of bright, summery quilt block coasters.

So that’s what I did!

Turning a mini quilt block into a coaster is an easy project–all the hard work is in sewing that quilt block, after all! Here’s how to do it!

Materials

You will need:

• mini quilt block. Any quilt block that’s approximately coaster-sized, say between 4 and 6 inches wide, will work for this project. If you want something bigger, just call it a mug rug! For mini quilt block ideas, check out my mini log cabin quilt block tutorial.
• cotton batting or equivalent. Coasters are actually a great way to use up the last scraps of cotton batting leftover from a quilt project. I also like to use recycled polyester felt; if the felt is on the thin side, like craft felt often is, you can double it up for this project.
• backing fabric. This back-to-front binding piece should be 1″ larger than the quilt block on all sides.
• measuring, cutting, and sewing supplies.

Step 1: Cut the batting.

Iron and square the mini quilt block, then set it directly on the felt or batting and use it as a template to cut the piece to size.

One of the nice things about both felt and batting is that they’re a bit grippy, so if you’re moving straight to the next step you don’t even really need to pin this. But a few clips around the edges are also fine!

Step 2: Measure and cut the backing fabric to size.

Prep your backing fabric by washing, ironing, etc., then lay it right side down onto your work surface. I like to set my quilt block + batting stack right side up directly on top of the backing fabric, then use a clear, gridded quilting ruler to cut the backing fabric 1″ wider than the quilt block on all sides.

You’ll need to trim the corners of the backing fabric to reduce bulk in the binding. I always just eyeball this by first ironing the corners down, as in the above photo, then hand-cutting them off about halfway between that fold and the corner of the quilt block.

Step 3: Sew the binding.

Fold each side in to touch the edge of the quilt block, then iron to crease. Then, fold each side in again at the edge of the quilt block, bringing that first folded edge over the quilt block to create the binding. Adjust the corners by hand until they look tidy; you can make them look mitered or leave them as-is, as long as there are no raw fabric edges showing.

Stitch the edge of the binding down to the coaster. On my sewing machine, a basic Singer Heavy Duty, I use a zigzag stitch with a width of 3 and a length of 2.

That’s the entire process to make a coaster! I made six coasters, some with hearts and some with bees, and I’ve already thrown a couple in the wash because apparently we’re all messy coffee drinkers in this family. I LOVE that these coasters are as easily washable as our quilts and clothes!

Because these coasters are so summery, AND because I’ve got so much fabric, ahem, I’m already thinking about the idea of using these seasonally and sewing some different coasters that we can use in the autumn and winter. Little skull centers with orange, black, and purple frames would be perfect for October, don’t you think? And perhaps little hearts with pink, purple, and white frames for Valentine’s Day?

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Sew a Mini Square in a Square Log Cabin Quilt Block

My log cabin quilt block obsession has grown both larger… and smaller!

The log cabin was the second quilt block that I ever learned to sew (everyone’s first quilt block should be the Nine-Patch!), and it’s remained my absolute favorite. It’s the kind of block whose versatility works for both newer sewists–wonky pieces are absolutely acceptable here!–and advanced sewists who want to experiment with color, value, and dimension.

My current obsession is mini quilt blocks, and I’m loving one specific type of log cabin quilt block, the square in a square subset, for highlighting a fussy cut center piece. The pieces around it, while constructed in the traditional log cabin way, make a series of frames that further highlight that piece, similar to the concept of highlighting the red “hearth” piece in the center of a traditional log cabin quilt block.

Even with this very simple block pattern, there’s a lot of scope for the imagination. I wanted something summery, so I’m playing with yellows and oranges, but there’s an infinite amount of variety of color and width to be played about with here.

Here’s how to make these mini square in a square log cabin quilt blocks:

Materials

You will need:

• fabric. Even though it’s a bit of a waste of fabric, depending on what width I choose for my log pieces, I’m cutting all my fabric 1.5″ wide and then simply adjusting my seam allowance to get the finished width that I want. My narrowest log pieces will be .5″ wide, so for those I’ll also be sewing with a .5″ seam allowance. The pieces that I want to end up 1″ wide will get a more traditional .25″ seam allowance.
• measuring, cutting, and sewing supplies. I LOVE a clear, gridded quilting ruler for precise measuring and cutting. I cut the strips with a self-healing cutting mat and rotary cutter, and I fussy cut the center square using a pair of sharp sewing scissors. To make the fussy cutting even easier, I recently splurged on a piece of gridded plastic that I could use to make my own cutting templates. It’s NOT eco-friendly, but I love it and I’ll use it forever! For machine sewing, I like a narrow, sharp needle and matching thread. And like it or not, you have to have an iron!

Step 1: Cut the pieces.

Above, you can see that I’ve got my colorway figured out and my pieces chosen. All the strips are 1.5″ wide, and the center block is 1.5″ square. The little heart in the middle is just .25″ square, so I’m going to aim for all my finished logs to be .5″ wide. That means that all my seam allowances will be .5″. It’s overkill and don’t tell the quilting police, but just between us, I kind of love piecing with a wider seam allowance. It always feels so much easier for my fumbly fingers to handle!

Step 2: Frame the center piece.

Line up the seams of the first log piece and one side of the center block, wrong sides together. This first log piece will be the shortest, and although you won’t be able to tell by more than the lines of stitching, since all the pieces of this frame will be the same color, I nevertheless like to place it at the bottom.

I don’t like to start my stitching at the very edge of the fabric, because I can’t figure out how to keep the fabric from bunching at that edge when I do (let me know if you have tips!), so I like to offset the log pieces and then trim the extra away after sewing each seam.

Sew the seam, then use your sharp sewing scissors to trim each side of the log piece to match the edge of the center piece. Unfold and finger press the seam to whichever side you prefer–for this project, I’m pressing the seams open, but again, I think that’s something that I don’t want you to tell the quilting police that I do…

Above is the block that I sewed from the right side. You can tell that the top left is a little uneven, and if you want you can trim it down so it’s perfect again before you continue sewing.

Do I want to, though? Nope!

Here’s the block from the back side:

One piece of advice that I did receive once upon a time, and that I DO follow, is to iron quilt blocks from the right side, not the wrong side like in the photo above. I don’t know why that is but I do it anyway.

Sew the next three log pieces just the way you sewed the first one, continuing to border that center piece.

Each time, you’ll trim the log piece to match the two sides of the block, then iron the seam open (or to the side you prefer!) from the right side:

Remember that you can always trim the block to the correct size, so I don’t think you should get too fussy if one of your seams is a little imprecise. These blocks are tiny!

Your complete frame will look like the photo below:

Notice that you can see the lines of stitching for each piece in the frame, but that won’t really be visible if you’re not looking at it with your nose two inches from it like we are right now.

Step 3: Continue piecing additional frames.

Add as many additional frames as you want to this log cabin quilt block. I kept up with the .5″ seams for this quilt block, and you can see in the photo above that it’s definitely added “dimension” to the quilt block, but I don’t think it made it too bulky. I think I’m going to use these quilt blocks for coasters, anyway, so a little more thickness will just make them more absorbent.

I think that it looks the nicest to continue rotating the blocks and adding pieces in the order that you started with the first frame. So if you went clockwise like I did in the above photo, keep going clockwise! And even though we’re still looking at it with our noses two inches from the block, I think the stitching in the frames already looks less obvious, and it will continue to fade into the background the more frames you add.

Here’s my finished quilt block, below:

Instead of adding another frame with that 1.5″ strip I have there, I’m going to use a different piece of that fabric to sew a back-to-front binding when I turn this, and several of its identical friends, into coasters.

But the world is your oyster when you’re choosing what YOU want to do with your square in a square mini log cabin quilt block! You could make a zippered pouch, or a needle book, or a quilted postcard, or gather it together with 359 more mini quilt blocks and make a whole quilt top.

Let me know what you end up making--you know I'm nosy like that!

P.S. Want to know more about our adventures in learning, and the resources that we use to accomplish them? Check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Log Cabin Quilt from Upcycled Denim.... And It's King-Sized!

I originally posted this tutorial over at Crafting a Green World back in 2023.

What better summer project could there be than sewing a king-sized upcycled denim log cabin quilt?

I roasted while I sewed all that denim and flannel in the smack middle of the summer, but I’ll be so comfy this winter!

I’ve had this log cabin quilt sewn from upcycled denim in my mind’s eye for a few years, but it’s the embarrassing state of my fabric stash that finally prodded me into action. I may not have projects in mind for all that quilting cotton and canvas and jersey knit fabric, but sewing the giant plastic bin full of old jeans and that three yards of extra-wide flannel into the quilt of my dreams has certainly made a big dent in my hoard!

Here’s what I used for my quilt:

• soooo much denim. I’ll never lack for fabric to sew with if I can just keep outgrowing my jeans every few years! I’d like to thank Covid and perimenopause for sourcing much of this latest quilt for me.
• extra-wide flannel. I prefer to use thrifted sheets to back quilts, but in this case my thrifting luck deserted me, so I bought three years of extra-wide flannel. At about 108″ x 108″, it was nearly the perfect size to back my king-sized quilt. Just a little bit made it back into the fabric bin for later! The big box fabric store near me has a decent selection of extra-wide fabrics–I can at least get the color I’m aiming for, if not an exciting print.
• measuring, cutting, and sewing supplies. You need a sturdy machine to sew over all those denim seams, and a sharp sewing needle.

Step 1: Measure and Cut Log Cabin Pieces

The beauty of sewing a king-sized quilt is that it can be a giant square–anywhere between 90″ and 110″ looks good and fits the space well.

For a log cabin quilt, this means that you can sew the entire quilt as if it’s one giant log cabin quilt block!

Because I’m the laziest, I wanted to make my strips as wide as I could get away with. For the jeans I’ve got in my stash, 6″ wide was a good choice, resulting in the least waste and looking proportionate in the oversized quilt. But of course the beauty of a log cabin quilt is that you can be really creative with it, so feel free to have fun with your sizing.

When I had a huge stack of strips, I sewed them all into a single strip, short sides together. Because the denim was all different weights, I finger-pressed each seam to the side that felt thinner or lighter… or, tbh, just in the direction that it seemed to want to go. No reason to stop being lazy now!

I can’t even tell you how many pairs of jeans I used in this quilt, but I got through a lot of podcast episodes just cutting log cabin pieces!

Step 2: Sew a Center Panel (Optional)

You don’t have to have a special center panel for a log cabin quilt, and when I first sewed this half-square triangle from upcycled denim, I thought that it would be a pillow front. But sometimes items change their purpose when they’re on my sewing table, and this one became the center panel for my quilt!

Step 3: Piece the Oversized Log Cabin Quilt Block

I sewed my pieced strip around and around my center panel, cutting the strip even at the end of each seam and beginning it again on the adjacent side.

Cut this piece even with the quilt, turn the quilt 90 degrees, and keep sewing!

This quilt would have had more of a log cabin look–and a really stunning one, too!–if I’d used a single color per strip, but that would have taken a lot of effort to sort my denim by color, and as I’ve mentioned, I’m the laziest!

At the end of every podcast episode, my favorite thing was to lay the quilt out to see how it was growing.

Can you see where I spilled my ice water on the quilt top? This thing was so bulky and heavy to haul around, and it knocked everything off of every surface I passed when I carried it around.

When it got to the point of having to move furniture to make it fit, I knew that I was almost done!

Step 4: Add the back and binding.

Finally bought myself these sewing clips after eyeing them for years. They’re not quite as life-changing as I’d hoped, but they DO make quick work of pinning bulky seams like these!

I am in the process of working through my sadness that I didn’t actually quilt this, so don’t make me feel worse about it. I even had a cute design in mind, but my at-home sewing machine can only do so much! By the time I finished this, I wasn’t sure if I could even fit the entire thing under my sewing machine anymore. Next time, I’ll think through some kind of quilt-as-you-go method, perhaps.

As it was, my family had to help me move half the furniture in the family room to make space for me to lay down the flannel fabric, tape it taut, lay the quilt top over it, trim the backing to 2″ past the quilt on all sides, then double-fold it around the quilt and pin it.

Four more straight seams later, and the king-sized upcycled denim log cabin quilt of my dreams was done!

I should probably be more careful of it considering how much time I put into it, but I believe that quilts are meant to be used, and this giant quilt DOES make an excellent summer picnic blanket! It’s super heavy and warm, too, so I’m excited about using it this winter.

My new goal is to think up some throw pillow covers that I can also sew from upcycled denim, but that won’t be so matchy that it looks too country… Pixelated skulls, perhaps? Or maybe monograms?

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

The Star Wars T-Shirt Quilt That Took Four Years to Make

 

This post was originally published on Crafting a Green World way back in 2016.

Back in 2012, I showed off my Star Wars T-shirt quilt top to you. I told you all about how I'd constructed it over the past six months from thrifted Star Wars T-shirts that it had taken me years to collect. I shared details of the log cabin style that I'd used to piece it, and the color scheme that I'd selected that would enable me to best utilize my stash fabric. I told you that for my husband's birthday, I planned to back the finished top simply with flannel, then quilt it. 

When I said "birthday," I meant "anniversary," and when I said "planned," I meant that I would do it four years later. 

Four entire years later, here is the finished quilt! 

This quilt top has sat in my WIP pile for four years. We moved in that time, and I took it with me. We got a bigger bed, and I put off finishing it, dreading having to enlarge the quilt from a queen to a king. Several birthdays and anniversaries and Christmases passed, and I always found something else to give my husband. And then the new Star Wars movie came out (and if you haven't seen it, it's WONDERFUL!), and suddenly, there was all this Star Wars fabric in the fabric stores! 

Want to know a sure-fire way to get someone to finish a years-old WIP? Tell them that they get to buy themselves some new fabric to do it! 

Although the rest of the quilt is sewn entirely from thrifted and stash fabrics, it turned out that some new fabric was just the inspiration that I needed to finish this project up. I toyed with the idea of using my new Star Wars prints in flannel and cotton to add a border around the quilt, thereby resizing it to fit our king-sized bed, but everything that I tried looked janky. Finally, I decided that I'd rather have a quilt that I like the look of, even if it's too narrow to fit our bed, than a quilt that fits well but gets on my nerves every time I see it, and I used that new fabric, along with some stash, to piece the quilt back.

Because I want to use the quilt in the summer, I didn't use any batting between the layers. I put the front and back right sides together, sewed almost all the way around, then turned it and edge stitched the entire perimeter.

The quilt isn't even technically a quilt, because instead of quilting it, I tied it at all four corners of every T-shirt piece.  

Four years, my Friends, and in the end, this Star Wars T-shirt quilt took one day to finish. I can't wait to see what I'm going to accomplish in another four years!

A Dragon Quilt for a Dorm Room Bed

 

I almost had this quilt project well-organized.

I mean, I started it in July, with the intent to give it as a Christmas gift!

And then I finished about 90% of it, still in July! I did all the taxing piecing, and basted the batting and backing fabric to the quilt top. All I had left to do by the end of the month was applique/quilt the dragon to the quilt, then stitch the back-to-front binding.

So obviously that's what I was doing in a panic on December 24th...

Why, yes, completing a project in the same month that I begin it IS one of my 2023 New Year's Resolutions! I'll keep you in the loop about how it goes!

I got so much done in July because I was able to take advantage of Matt and one teenager swanning off to Peru for two weeks and the other teenager having, you know, an active social life and a part-time job, etc., leaving me, with no social life and no part-time job and no vacation out of the country, home alone in silence. 

Mental note that when my second kid leaves for college, as well, I should probably try to make some friends.

It was good, though, that I had so many uninterrupted hours to work, because some of these techniques were new to me. Here's the link for my dragon quilt inspiration. This was my first time using fusible interfacing as a template--

--which involves cutting pieces from my fabric stash--

--then ironing them to the interfacing--

--then zigzagging them in place--

--and then cutting and ironing some more!

Spots was, as usual, of great help:

She's pissed off because it's a drive-in night so she wasn't allowed outside. That's where the mean cars live!

My photo editing software automatically organizes my photos in chronological order, and it must have access to the timestamps for each photo, as well, because a funny thing happened with my catalog of these photos. I lent Matt my nice camera for their trip, so when he got back all those photos just fed into my program along with all the shitty cellphone pics I'd been taking, to such an extent that when we were clearly taking photos simultaneously, our photos interlaced in the catalog!

So while I was finishing up piecing the dragon's body onto my template--

--my teenager was sitting on a curb somewhere in Peru and eating an ice cream cone:

By the time I got that wing finished, several hours later--

--she was standing on the shore of Lake Titicaca!

And late that evening, when I'd finally gotten all of those interfaced scraps pieced together and had only the dinosaur's spikes left to cut out--

--she was enjoying a delicious dinner:

Here is exactly where I was in the process on the day they came home from Peru:

And there the project remained until December 24th. In other news, WHY does my sewing machine always do some random funky wonky thing every single time I'm panic sewing on a deadline? Do not look at the stitching that I used to quilt this dragon, because from the backside it looks like shit. I kept adjusting the freaking tension, I rethreaded the needle forty times, I changed the needle, I did everything but pray to the goddamned sewing machine, and I still have no idea why it wouldn't give me nice stitching on the back.

Whatever. It's far from perfect, but it IS finished!

Syd thinks it's cheezy that I chose a piece whose print looked like the dragon's eye, but I love it!

...and that's all the photos you get of just the quilt without the dog walking all over it.

She is very helpful, yes?

Fortunately, she only walked all over it in snowy paws, not muddy paws, so all I had to do was toss it in the dryer when I was done.

And that's the last big project until I drive my kid to Ohio, unless I get around to sewing her the matching laptop and ipad and phone cases that I bought the zippers for back in October... which I'm NOT going to get around to doing, ahem.

After all, I'll need something to fill my lonely hours while she's gone!