Scrappy Christmas Placemats and Coasters

Hello everyone! I'm Diana Ray, the quilter and writer at Ray's Sew Crafty. I'm back to show you a quick tutorial on making scrappy Christmas placemats and coasters using just two dies! I'll be using the Go! Ohio Star (#55174) die for my 17"x 12"placemats and the Go! Kite (#55254) for my 6"X 6"coasters. They are both BOB dies, a "Block on Board", which means that all of the pieces for this block are on one board for quick cutting! I love that!

I used a layer cake of Island Batik Christmas fabrics for my last project and had part of the layer cake and some scraps left. I will be using my scraps for this project ; "Waste not, Want not!", right?

Here is what you'll need:

- Go! Ohio Star (#55174)
- Go! Kite (#55254)
- AccuQuilt Fabric Cutter
- Roughly one layer cake of scraps between 5"-8" squared
- Six FQ's for side strips and backing
- Four 18" X 13" batting pieces for placemats
- Four 7" X 7" batting pieces for coasters
- Sewing machine
- Rotary cutter and mat
- WonderFil "Deco-Bob" 80 weight thread

These placemats and coasters are such scrap busters, I really had fun putting them together! I altered the size of my Kite blocks to make my coasters smaller. I'll explain what I did as I go through my steps. :)

I made four Ohio Star placemats and four kite coasters. It is so easy and quick to cut my pieces accurately using AccuQuilt's dies. I used the layer cake pieces and scraps to cut out my pieces in four assorted blocks of each die. AccuQuilt has these engineered notches , that I like to call "doggy ears", that are CUT for you when you use these dies. The little corners are clipped so that when you press your pieces, you don't have to snip the ends that hang out. Isn't that just such a time saver? It is for me!

I recently discovered WonderFil's "Deco-Bob" 80 weight thread and I really like it! It's thinner than your popular 50 weight thread and it makes your seams lay flatter. My blocks came together with less bulk using this thread in my bobbin and top thread!

After I cut all of my pieces and set up my machine, I am ready to sew my blocks.

Tip: Your Go! Die Pick can double as a stiletto to hold your pieces of fabric together as you sew.

I laid out the block I was working on and started with the quarter triangles (top left image). I sewed down the side of two stacked triangles, using the top and bottom notches as a quarter-inch guide (top right image). After sewing both halves of the square, I press one half to the right and the other half to the left (bottom left image). That way, when I sew both halves together, I can "lock in" the center seams and have a perfect point in my block!

After sewing a block, I swirl my seams counter clock wise and I end up with a cute four-patch in the center (bottom right image).

Tip: For my Ohio Star blocks, I sewed my block in rows. Pressing the top and bottom rows to the right and my middle row to the left. That way, when I see my rows together, my corners will match up when I "lock-in" my seams.

For my coasters, I altered my Kite blocks to make my coasters smaller. Each "kite" is 4" finished and with a complete 4 kite block, my coaster would have been 8" finished. I have a big coffee mug...but not that big!

I trimmed my kite blocks by one inch (top left image). Each kite block is 4-1/2" Unfinished, I squared up the block to 3-1/2" with the tip of the kite on the bottom left of my ruler. After trimming all of my blocks to 3-1/2" Unfinished, I sewed them together to create my coasters (top right image). After piecing my tops, I cut out a piece of 7" squared batting and backing to finish them off (bottom right image). I stacked my coaster pieces as follows: batting on the bottom, backing face up and the coaster top facing down.

I enjoy the quick "stitch and turn" method, it's quick and easy! I stitched 1/4" all around, both my placemats and coasters, leaving a 3"-5" opening to turn.

In order to make my placemats long enough, I added a 3" X 12-1/2" strip on each side. I used up some FQ's and scraps for my sides, it is a scrappy placemat after all!

We're almost done!

After I "stitch and turn" my coasters and placemats, I topstitch the edges and quilt away. I also used WonderFil's "Deco-Bob" 80 weight thread to topstitch and quilt my projects because it's smooth, thin and has a bit of a sheen look to it. I really like that in this Christmassy project!

I really enjoyed making these easy Christmas placemats and coasters for the upcoming holiday season! They came together so quickly using AccuQuilt's Dies! These placemats and coasters are great for gift-giving and can double as decorations on your wall.

I hope that you have enjoyed my project tutorial. I am super excited to make some more of these to gift to my family and friends. I would love to see what you like to make for your family and friends for the holidays. Follow my blog at www.RaysSewCrafty.com and if you are on Instagram, find me at @RaysSewCrafty.

On a side note, I just adopted a new kitten who was ALL over my snicker doodles during this project photoshoot. I will be blogging about that this evening and share some behind-the-scenes pictures of my new kitten.

Toodles for now,

-Diana Ray