Coasters revisited!

What do you do when you have a spare few hours in the afternoon but you don't have enough time to tackle a large project? Make something you know won't take too long and isn't very mentally taxing - and no I'm not talking about taking a NAP! Once you've made something before, the second time is easier and we find, we also then do things differently to improve on the quality of the finished item.

 With our first coasters, we noticed that the intersection of the four squares didn't end up exactly in the centre of the coaster. This was quite noticeable when we top-stitched the coaster with squares. So this time, once the layers were all assembled and pinned together ready to sew, we drew around the template on the reverse of the quilted piece to make sure the middle was in the correct place. Then of course, we used that line to stitch around. Last time we just used the magnetic seam guide placed at 1cm and just sewed. Logically of course, had we cut the pieces out exactly and sewed exactly on the seam allowance, when all the pieces were assembled, sewing exactly in 1cm should result in the perfect placed middle! But I guess we're only human and try as I might to be a robot, I simply am not.....so I have to make allowances for that! Erasable ink pens are the perfect solution!

Talking of erasable ink pens, wonderful as they are - we discovered the other day that using one on a solid colour such as brown, is not so good! When we ironed the mark off, it left a very visible line. I guess I should have figured that out. Ironing the mark doesn't make the ink evaporate, it merely turns it translucent, hence, why it is visible on dark fabrics! Note to self: use chalk for marking on dark colours.