Project Design Boards

I am a religious watcher of the Sew Sweet quilting you tube videos on Flosstube + Quilting.  This mother/daughter pair share what they are working on, and I always find something I like.  They also do a live shopping on Facebook on Fridays at 9:30 (they are off this week though).  Jessica had mentioned on more than one occasion that she used design boards to lay out a block and she does several and stacks them by her machine so they are ready whenever she gets a moment to sew.  This was very appealing to me, but when I checked out the price of a design board...............whew!  There was no way I could justify having enough to stack by my machine.  So, I decided to make some.  There was a tutorial on the Fat Quarter Shop that looked simple enough.  I picked up some scrap foam core from the local framing store (I used to work there - pre-Sarah, so 25 years ago).  After making several, I decided there would be an easier way to do this.  I was out of foam core, but the hubster reminded me that there were some pieces stuck between the file cabinet and the desk in the basement office.  I found 3 big boards left from 4-H projects and high school graduation photo displays.  I cut them to the sizes I wanted and was off to the races again.  

My first step was to cut a piece of batting the size of the board.  Then I made "binding" using a 2.5" strip of cute fabric.  Then I just attached the binding to the batting like I would for a quilt.

I treated the corners just as I would on a quilt and ended it the same way.

Then I sprayed the foam core with spray adhesive............

And then stuck the batting with the binding to the board.

When I flipped it over to the back, it looked like this.........

And the front looked like this.............

I used a glue gun to stick the edges down to the back of the board.  The Fat Quarter Shop tutorial had you stick the batting on the front with the glue gun, and glue the "binding" on without any sewing.  This was a lot of glue gun, and I like my process much better.   It looks much better too.  (Maybe my glueing skills aren't as good as my sewing skills.)

Here is the back of the board after the edges are glued down..........

And this is my completed stack of boards!  There are different sizes for different sized blocks.  I think mine are 8", 10", and 12".  I never planned to make this many, but when I found all that extra foam core, it seemed the thing to do.  The batting was all scraps, and I just chose happy colors for the binding strips.

 This project seriously took me back to my Sunday School Class days as a little kid.  Remember the flannel board and the Bible characters that had a piece of flannel on the back so they would stick to the board while the teacher told the Bible story?  Kids today have no idea what I am talking about.  But, it brings a smile to my face when I remember while using my design boards.  There are several stacked by the machine right now, so I better get to sewing!

Christi

Small Finishes

I had a few smaller finishes recently.  This was a panel I had picked up in January 2021.

I used the barn block that was printed on the panel to create the corner blocks in the border.

I also used the block as the center of a table runner but reversed the colors and framed a couple of the panel pieces for the ends of the runner.

And the last 2 parts of the panel were made into the cutest pillows.

And I made this table runner from some leftover blue batik scraps.  

All of these were gifted to some friends.  

And I think I have been irritating the "girls" with my photography.  I keep interrupting their naps with pictures.

Moms can be so irritating sometimes!  If I could just let them sleep, but they are so cute when they are sleeping that I have to get a picture.........and they also hold still, so taking the pic is much easier!

Christi