Turkey Talkin Placemats ~

basically all that is required for quilting is a straight line of stitching.  i chose to engage the dual feed mechanism on my bernina 830, using an open toe foot bernina #20D {“d” is for dual feed in bernina land}.  a walking foot would also be just great. you can choose to do it free motion, too, or with any other regular stitching foot of your choice.

i don’t like ‘perfect’ straight lines, so this pattern is perfect.  and I just had fun zippin’ along my merry way; but decided to change out my normal stitch plate {pic below} and switch in my straight-stitch plate.  that way i get a real nice, straight stitch.  it just looks better, and eliminates any of that wobbly-stitch-look that might happen with the straight-line stitching i was doing.

especially with a 9mm wide stitch width opening.  there’s lots more ‘give’ in the fabric and needle movement of the straight stitch with that stitch plate.  this is a tip i share when teaching mastery classes at bernina, too.  want a better stitch when piecing?  a straight-stitch plate will help.

i picked superior threads, beginning with king tut 40 wt, and i used isacord polyester 40 wt in the bobbin.  works smooth as silk {but it’s not silk} and i loved the slight variegated look from king tut that ‘fades in and out’ on this cool plaid fabric which is the background

for a little extra pizazz, i changed out {for just a few stitching lines down and across} to a superior thread rainbow tri-lobal poly in purple-blue for some fall-color lovin’.  {love it with the brown} i did the other one with some rainbows pinks – {love it too}

if you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you already know i’m not much about traditional fabrics.  i dig contemporary for the most part.  i love traditional ~ but i rarely make it.  {but if anyone wanted to give me a quilt that was all about traditional ~ hey, i wholeheartedly raise my hand and scream wildly “pick me ~ pick me!”}

but i dig these charming little floral prints.  and when i saw the kit ~ i knew it was the only way i was going to be interested in finishing these cute turkeys. the work was done for me ~ and i love laura’s style, anyway ~ these fabrics are so adorable.  for $80 you got the kit, including enough fabric for backing and binding.  the kit makes 8 placemats. the pattern was $10 

{i can be ‘plucky’ that way}

something else i don’t do too much of  is hand stitching.  love, love, love the look of it… but i just don’t have enough hand strength and not nearly enough time.  so i free motioned those details for eyes, beak, red stuff, and his legs.  hand stitching would be totally adorable, tho.

i got two of ’em done.  and i’m turkey-talkin’ happy about that!  i timed myself too ~ took about 15-20 minutes to quilt each mat.  not bad. {doesn’t count fusing, cutting, binding and finishing time}

i did a simple, bias binding from striped fabric.  love that look, too. i left myself plenty of binding on the back, as I ‘stitched in the ditch’ from the front to get ’em finished easy and quick.

in most circumstances, i like a hand-stitched binding best… but again – time is the deal here, and since these will be washed, this kind of sturdy stitching will endure. 

I recently posted about finding this adorable pattern, and the kit I purchased for it on September 25th.  You can re-visit that post to see pictures of both.  The pattern is an original creation by quilter and fabric designer, Laura Heine, who owns Fiberworks, a spectacular quilt store in Billings, MT.  {you will love this store} {and no I wasn’t paid or given a ‘deal’ for this review ~ laura doesn’t know who i am even} she has a wonderful website as well.  Click here!

whatdayathink?  are they cute or what?

so cute cute CUTE!  {two down… six more to go!}  i have listed these two in my etsy shop, fyi.  i may make more … but the rest will be for our own table here at home.

EnJoY ~ thanks for stoppin’ in!  {GOBBLE GOBBLE!}