Acorns and Owls...

I spent part of Wednesday in the studio, creating larger mug mats for two special people in Wisconsin. My dear friend, Grace (who I call "Mom"), my "Sis" Deb (her daughter), and I always exchange gifts this time of year. This is part of what I'll be sending to them.
I wanted something cheerful to brighten Mom's side table next to her favorite chair. She knows how I adore acorns, and has made more than one quilt for me using acorn fabrics. I wanted to add an acorn to her mat, so I went into my assortment of Michelle Palmer acorn drawings and decided on this one.
Michelle drew this one on a leafy batik fabric - perfect for this purpose - and then she hand colored it. It's one of my favorites. The fabric for this mat is from Moda's Fresh Cottons line. It's sure to brighten Grace's outlook on a gloomy, Wisconsin winter day.
I chose my favorite ivory fabric for the backing, and the mat does have batting sandwiched in between. I used the techniques in this tutorial by Amy Smart (Diary of a Quilter blog) for a table runner, but downsized it to suit my purposes. My oversized mug mats measure 6 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" long, including the binding.
Deb has loved and collected owls as long as I've known her (38 years!!), and I've found more than a few for her in that time. When Michelle offered this one in her Etsy shop, I immediately thought of Deb and purchased it for a future project.
Michelle added the buttons with her artwork, too! This fabric is from Moda's Collection for a Cause - Heritage line. I think they were perfect for a fall look that wasn't masculine.
I have more of this fabric (kitted in this cool metal case) that I'm going to use to create a larger quilt. I'm so looking forward to working with these fabrics again, and I've decided to make this my first major quilt project in the new year.
This case holds all the fabric needed to create a 91" square quilt, except the backing fabric. The quilt pattern is reflected on the exterior of the case, as well as on the front of the pattern here.

I'm back in the studio today and I'm still making mats. I love making these mats, and they're also a great way to use scrap fabric! I've made a resolution to use as my stash for my projects this year. I'm hoping that I won't even need to purchase fabric for backing, as I have quite a lot of larger cuts. (We'll see how that works out as the year progresses.)

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