Pumpkin time

I'm not thrilled about fall's arrival. But I'm doing my best.

I made some little pumpkin coasters this weekend, and some photos are below to show how. If you have a bit of batting and some scraps of fabric and trim, this is easy! What if you made faces on them? Jack-o-lantern coasters!

Make up a quilt sandwich about 10 x 20''. The backing of the sandwich won't be seen in the final coaster so use whatever you want to get rid of. First draw some pumpkin shapes. I drew my shapes around a glass to make sure they'd be big enough, and gave a 1/4-1/2'' clearance around each edge. Pumpkins aren't perfect, so make them different sizes and shapes.

Use free motion quilting to give your pumpkins ridges, then cut them out along the lines you drew.

Place the pumpkins face down on the backing fabric. For the stems, use a 2'' piece of trim folded in half, tucked under the pumpkin. Align the raw edges of the trim with the top raw edge of the pumpkin. Pin in place and sew around them with a 1/4'' seam, leaving a 1.5''-2'' hole at the bottom.

Cut away the excess backing fabric and turn the pumpkin right side out through the hole you left.

Fold down the seam allowance in the hole and then topstitch around the whole thing to secure it.

I like the way they look all in a row! The toddler likes them too. Lots of counting to five happening around here!