Fast and Easy Hot Pads

First, there was the pile of scraps left over from making the tessellating pinwheel placemats.

So, I began by cutting them down to two inch squares.  The squares that are leftovers from the tessellating pinwheel pattern, however, are all on the bias.  Could get ugly.  That is why the pattern I give here uses interfacing.  I rather like the way the interfacing adds some firmness anyway, so it worked out for the best, I say.

Size: 8" by 11"

Materials (makes two)

• 42 two-inch squares
• Light-weight fusible interfacing: 15" by 15"
• Sashing strips: 4 rectangles 2" by 11"
• Backing: 2 rectangles 9" by 12"
• Batting: 4 rectangles 9" by 12"
• Insul-Brite: 2 rectangles 9" by 12"
• Binding: 1/8 yard

Supplies – The Quilter’s Cut ‘n Press is going to make this much easier.  You could use a cutting mat to give you the grid lines but you would need to be very careful as you moved your interfacing over to an ironing board not to shift the squares in process.  (This is why I am a dedicated gadget girl – you just gotta love the tools).

1.  When light-weight fusible interfacing is placed over this ruled ironing mat, you can see right through it.  Isn’t that convenient? 

 

Place the  interfacing, fusible side up, on top of the ruled ironing mat.  Using the ruled lines as a guide, lay out your squares.

2.  Once a goodly area is filled up, use a pressing sheet and lightly tack down the squares.

Then move the interfacing over and continue laying squares   until you complete a  6 by 7 grid.

3.  Once the grid is complete, trim off the extra interfacing and iron well to make sure all the patches are secure.

4.  Fold down one of the six patch rows and sew a quarter inch seam.

5.  Continue to fold and sew until all the horizontal rows have been sewn.

6.  Using a ruler and rotary cutter, trim a smidgen off of each seam.

7.  Just enough so that you can press the seams open, like this:

8.  Cut the strips apart into 6 rows of seven patches each.

 

9.  Join the strips as pictured.  Press seams towards the solid sashing strips.  (NOTE:  I used linen for my backing and sashing strips.  Linen can be terribly stretchy.  I solved that problem by very heavily starching the fabric so that it was quite stiff.)

10.  Create a quilt sandwich.  Begin by stacking your layers: the backing right side down, one piece of batting, the Insul-Brite, a second layer of batting, the pieced section (right side up). 

11.  Quilt as desired.  I stitched straight lines down the sashing strips and left the pieced sections unquilted (this gives them a bit of poof.)  I also stitched down the edges of the long sides to make it easier to bind.

12.  Trim and bind.  For binding, I cut 1 1/2" wide strips and used the single-fold method I described in the Tessellating Pinwheel tutorial which you can find here. 

 

I think this same pattern would make up a very cute pot holder.  I’d just use five squares per vertical row instead of seven and create a loop with the binding.  Easy peasy.