Sew & Tell Friday: Nicey Jane Baskets and Last Minute Mother's Day

Brian told me he wanted to buy something from my shop for his Mom for Mother's Day on the Wednesday before Mother's Day.  There are definitely a few things that would work, but I wanted it to be something for her.  Knowing what her dining room and kitchen look like made it easier to choose fabric and since she's got an oval dining table, I decided to make a runner instead of a square:

Appliqueing dots in the middle of the flower means that Brian won't lose his mind when he looks at it.  (He's always telling me to finish the circle on both sides.) I used three blocks instead of four and I added a two-inch sash.

I couldn't help adding a teacup to the photo shoot.  This is one from my Grandma's collection.

I'm all about doing a back that would work on it's own these days.  Does that pattern remind anyone else of my bedroom in Oakley.  ("My bedroom."  AHAHAHAHAHA!  I had my own room for one month of my entire life.  It was during college and I still kept all my clothes in half of the closet and only put stuff in one dresser.  The room I'm talking about is one I shared with two other sisters.)

My other project is still under construction, but since it's mostly done I'm going to sew and tell it.  I used Quiltsmart's "Baskets Around" interfacing to make baskets (brilliant!) with some leftover Heather Bailey fabric.  I didn't have the directions, so I made a few things up.  For example, I was supposed to have a straight edge in the piece under the arc instead of a triangle so that it looks more like a basket.  I used ric rac instead of making a bias strip for the handle (who is making bias strips?!  dummies) and I will do that again. :)

You can see I'm not quit finished with the quilting and I haven't done a binding yet, but I like it so far.  Nicey Jane is such a feminine fabric...

Next time I'm putting the handles on first so that the edge can be tucked under the basket instead of being folded under itself or just frayed and crazy.  Der.

I'm entering a couple of my quilts to be judged in a very small quilt show at the end of this month.  Eeeeee!  Maybe it will be like the state fair and if I win a ribbon someone will give me $4.50 in change in a Zip-lock baggie.  Fingers crossed!  Check out Amy's blog for more inspiring finishes.  (Or "some" inspiring finishes if mine didn't do it for you this week.)