Finish-A-Long 2017 Tutorial

Welcome to the tutorial week of the Finish-A-Long!
If you haven't already, check out the other posts by the lovely ladies of the Finish-A-Long!

• March 27 - Abigail of Cut & Alter
• March 28 - Sandra of Sew of Course
• March 29 - Judith of Just Jude Designs
• March 30 - Marci of Marci Girl Designs
• March 31 - Me!!!!!

I decided my tutorial would make use of the many charm squares I have *ahem* hoarded over the years.

My Tutorial: A Polaroid Mug Rug/Snack Mat

I've liked the Polaroid blocks I've seen up and about the internet.  (I know there was a swap of them a while back.)  I don't have a plan to make a quilt of them immediately, but I have some cool charm squares from a fussy cut charm swap.
I wanted to use a couple of them to make something I could use every day.
Mug rug/snack mat it is!

I took the tutorial on making the tiny versions and amped it up for a bigger size. (Aside:  Karen over at Capitola Quilter is AWESOME, and I have been lucky enough to meet her in real life.)

For each mug rug, I used a 5 in charm square, 2 strips of white Kona measuring 2 in by 5 in, 1 strip of white Kona measuring 2 in by 8 in, and 1 strip of Kona measuring 3 in by 8 in.  I also used a piece of batting, approximately 9 in by 10 in.  For the back, I used some Kona charcoal, a piece about 8.5 by 7 in.

First sew the side strips on.

Then sew the top and bottom strips on.  (If at this point, you want to make a GIANT polaroid block, just add some darker sashing to make the polaroid "pop" out.)

I attached the batting by sewing around the "picture" part of the Polaroid.

Then I trimmed up the Polaroid block (with batting attached) to 8.5 in high and 7 in wide.

I sewed the back on (by placing right sides together and sewing around it, leaving a 2 in opening for turning) with a 1/2 in seam.  Hint:  Don't do what I did and leave the opening on a corner.  Your corners will look better if you leave the 2 in opening in the top or the bottom middle instead.

Clip the corners, turn inside out, and press.

Then sew a 1/8" topstitch and you're done!

If you wanted to be extra awesome, you could embroider a message on the Polaroid before you sew the front to the batting!


I hope you liked the tutorial!  I will probably make a mondo polaroid block quilt at some point, since I can't bear to have all my 5" fussy cut charms live in a box forever. *cough* hoarder *cough*

Don't forget to link up your finishes to the Finish-A-Long here and start drafting your next quarter's list!