Quick Cinnamon Scented Coasters for Fabri-Quilt & Giveaway of a Quilter’s Planner

When I received an email from Fabri-Quilt last month asking me to participate in their holiday blog hop, I knew  that December would be a busy month with the release of my project, The Quilter’s Planner. But who can resist a little holiday sewing????

To celebrate this Fabri-Quilt holiday blog hop today, I am giving away A Quilter’s Planner to one lucky reader! Maybe you’ve had your eye on it but haven’t had a chance to buy one yet… or maybe you have a friend who you know would like one for the holidays….If you’d like to enter to win a planner, please join my mailing list over on the sidebar (and get a free PDF gift!), and leave a quick comment below.  This giveaway will close on Sunday evening, December, 20th 2016.

Scented Cinnamon Coasters:

To make these cute coasters, I used prints from the Peace on Earth and the Season’s Greetings lines of Fabric-Quilts holiday fabrics. If you hop over to their blog, Inspired By Fabric, you can enter to win your own bundle from one of these lines! 

Supply List (to make 4 Coasters):

3 Fat Quarters of Coordinating Fabrics

Fusible Fleece

Cutting (for  1 basic coaster)

Two 6″ squares (choose two of your fabrics that coordinate but contrast nicely)

One 5 1/2″ square of fusible fleece

Ground Cinnamon

Instructions for Basic Coaster

Place the 5 1/2″ square of fusible fleece, bumpy side down, on the wrong side of one of the 6 ” fabric squares (I usually fuse to the lighter square). Press with a hot iron to secure the fleece.

Then place the square with the fused fleece on top of the other square, right sides together.

Sew around the perimeter with 1/4″ seam allowance.  I like to sew all the way off the fabric, cut threads, turn the square, and start at the very top of the next side.  This trick leads to more square corners after turning the coaster inside out.  Leave 2 inches open to turn (I placed the yellow pin at the top to remind myself).

Turn the square inside out and gently poke out the corners with a chopstick. Press flat with a hot iron.

Pour a little cinnamon inside the coaster.  This is my favorite part!

Press the edges of the opening under 1/4″.

Sew around the entire coaster with an 1/8″ seam allowance for a finished look.For a more interesting look, you can quilt as desired (although since we used fusible fleece, it’s not necessary). I love the smell of cinnamon that fills my sewing room while I’m quilting these.  

Here are a few that I finished in deep red and gold — traditional holiday fabrics.

Checkerboard Coaster

To make a checkerboard coaster that looks like it has little 1″ squares of contrasting fabric sewn together, you’re gong to use a quick weaving trick to save a lot of time!

Cutting (for 1 woven checkboard coaster)

One 6″ square of fabric (for backing of coaster)

Two strips of 2 1/2″ x WoF of contrasting fabrics

One 5 1/2″ square of fusible fleece

Instructions

Fold each strip in half, lengthwise, with wrong sides together and sew the long edge with 1/4″ seam.  (This is the same way you would sew a strip to make a hanging rod pocket for the back of a quilt.) I used one blue strip and one white strip.  This coaster looks best when you use two highly contrasting fabrics, perhaps with one print and one solid.

Take your strips to the pressing table and roll the seam to the center of the strip, and press the seam open. Do this for each of the two strips.

Subcut the long strips into four 6″ segments, for each color strip.

Lay out 4 strips of the same color next to each other.  Then take a contrasting strip, and begin to weave it over and under each of the strips you laid out on the table.

Weave in the white strips, like you would when making a lattice crust for a cherry pie.

• To add the first strip, lift the first and the third blue strips, place the white strip on top, and lay the blue strips back down.
• To add the second white strip, lift the second and fourth blue strips, then place the white strip on top and lay the blue strips back down.
• For the third white strip, lift the first and third blue strips, then place the white strip on top and lay the blue strips back down.
• Repeat one last time, lifting the second and fourth blue strips to add the last white strip.

After you finish weaving the strips, gently shift them closer together to fill gaps.  Center the woven design.

Flip your new woven block over and  lay a 5 1/2″” square of fusible web, bumpy side down, on the wrong side of the woven block. Take a peek at the front and make sure the strips haven’t shifted too much.  Then press the fusible to the block with a hot iron.

Place the woven block with the fused fleece right sides together with the square of backing fabric.  Follow the instructions above for the basic coaster to join the two together, flip, clip corners,  and close.  Quilting is unnecessary.

 Thanks for reading and entering!