A Rainbow for the Table

Napkins!! At our house we have been in dire need of new napkins - reusable ones. So in keeping with my home dec initiative, I made some new napkins for dinnertime. Lots and lots of them ~ 24 which sounds like a lot but really when you use them 4 at a time, that doesn't last so many days. After sewing these puppies all weekend, I'm tired of sewing napkins for now, so these will have to do for a bit.

A sunny rainbow of color for the table.

Notice they are gray in color because that's pretty much the color they are going to end up anyway - no point in slaving over the laundry just to get rid of the spaghetti sauce stains. Nope. Less stress this way! ;)

I roughly followed Penny's napkin tutorial (SewTakeaHike) if you'ld like to make your own napkins.

Happy Sewing!

The Atomic Firecracker

I have no idea what that is either ~ Seemed like a fitting name for this quilt. I have been playing with half-square triangles lately and I wanted one that was a riot of reds. I love the modern feel of this HST when all the triangles are arranged in the same orientation. So here it is, the atomic firecracker.


Lots of reds, plums, deep pinks and some oranges thrown into the mix. The solid fabric is Japanese Echino in a solid natural tone. This fabric has the appearance of linen but is actually a cotton linen blend with a nice tight weave and a soft hand. Love that stuff ~ it’s great for quilting and nicer than anything I’ve found in the domestic fabric market. I think the Echino really offsets the colors nicely.

I played around with some new quilting techniques in an effort to move away from stippling. This pattern was traced onto the quilt with a template and then free-motion quilted in rows. I’m not sure I’ll do this again, it was a lot of work and I’m not sure how much the quilting really stands out from afar.

The back is just a solid piece of Andalucia by Patty Young.

This HST quilt is really the 2^nd one I’ve done. The first was made for the Japan Modern Relief effort but that is currently on hold at the moment so more on that one later.

Picnic quilt finish

Presenting the Picnic quilt ~

All done! And ready for use - now we just need some sun and warm days....Well it's only March, gotta' reconcile myself to the fact that it's going to be a while yet...



This quilt was done as part of Aneela's Pickledish QAL. It was a fun project and used up a nice set of fat quarters and some other added fabrics from a set Elizabeth put together for Sew Mama Sew.


I think I like the back more actually - I think that's because I like things pretty simple and this quilt is pretty busy. Since it's destined for outdoor use I decided just to go easy on the quilting and do some free-motion allover quilting.


It'll be perfect for summer outdoor concerts, festivals and the like.
Just in time for a sew-n-tell Friday finish.


Happy Sewing!