Friday Project

Joe had today off, but he chose to spend the day at the range, shooting with his battle buddies. {I won't even mention that he's going to be at the military range on Monday.} That left me plenty of time on my hands today. So after some urging from Melissa, I started on a craft for my kitchen.

You see, I bought some coffee themed fabric almost a year ago and I'm pretty sure I've only used it once. Sad, isn't it? Although what I made with it was pretty darn cute:

Melissa and I got to talking about what I should make and she mentioned a dish drying mat. I don't do the dishes much anymore {thank goodness!}, but my pots and pans aren't dishwasher safe. We have a small drying rack in the opposite side of the sink, but that gets crowded sometimes. Plus, Melissa also mentioned that once Baby gets here I'm likely to have pump parts and bottles that need to be hand washed. Dish drying mat it was!

So I ironed my fabric, cut up and old {and really ugly} towel, and then cut my fabric. I made mine 18x14, but I almost wish I would have made it bigger. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes. It's really simple to make, but if you want a tutorial this is a pretty good one I found via trusty Google. ;-) In the tutorial she uses one piece of fabric and a towel, but I used two pieces of fabric and sandwiched the towel in between the two. This is how mine turned out:

Front (or top...)

Back

{Just pretend you don't see my crooked stitching.}

Oooooh.... Aaaaaah.... ;-)

I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself! I've thought about going back and tacking it all together (think big X) but I can't decide. Anyway, I like. =)

Then Melissa suggested I make one for my SIL. Anna told me recently that she's decorating the kitchen in her new house around the potholders I made for her for her birthday.

Well, I just happen to have some scraps of that fabric leftover! So I made her a dish drying mat today too. =)

Front

Back

For hers, I did just as the tutorial I posted above did. I thought I'd have enough to do one like mine, but I didn't. Hers is simpler, and a little less bulky than mine but I think it'll do the trick just fine! 

I think it'd also be cute to take a bunch of scraps and do a patchwork one. I'd do that, but none of my scraps go with my kitchen and I'd kind of like things to match. So I guess I'm just going to have to figure something else out for them!

Anyways, these are really easy to make. If you're looking for a good project or just find that you need one, definitely go make one!