Hence, the springy palate of this week's projects, so far:
Ironically, these are holiday gifts - at least, in theory. The "loaf trivet," which was inspired by the mug rug craze, turns out to be just the right size to protect a countertop from a hot pan of bread, is for me. But it's made so quickly and easily from two charm squares, a 1.5" border, and a bit of binding, that, if your short on gift ideas this year, I recommend stitching up, like, a million of these. You could do it today. I hand-quilted it, because I like that look, in about 15 minutes, but stippling would look amazing, too. I like the idea of making these in reds and greens, or even, say, Halloween prints, and giving them away with homemade loaves of bread, or even empty loaf pans & bread mix. (Why bake when you could NOT bake, right?)
The napkins are in cutesy pastel colors, because they're cupcakes, and that's how I roll. If you live under a rock, you might not have seen these free patterns, which I stitched on some napkins I got during a recent Sublime Stitching sale. I'd show them all off, but they're a gift, and should the recipient stumble upon this photo, I don't want to spoil the whole set.
So am I ready for fall? Depends, I guess. Am I psyched for cider and falling leaves? Not particularly. Am I working at injecting a bit of spring into the colder months? Indeed.
