Progress!

I finally got EVERYTHING I needed to start my quilting career. :o) I know, I said it before, but I "needed" the 1/4" guide on my sewing foot, since I can't trust myself to sew a straight line. AND... it turns out I bought the wrong Heat 'n Bond. :o(  All that is behind me now.

I started my place mats first, since I'm still missing the fusible fleece I need for the purses. I'm using Frecklemama's Personalized Place Mat tutorial from ModaBakeShop.
So far, I've traced my letters (backwards) and cut them out of the Heat 'n Bond.

I didn't trust myself to not lose any letters in the process, so I color coded all the names.  :o) That way *I think* it will be easier to see what colors I'm putting together. There are 10 people in my family so far. I'll be making a total of 12 place mats, leaving two with plain centers.

These are the 9.5" by 5" rectangles I'll be using in the centers to personalize.I laid out my Flurry by Kate Spain charm pack first so I can see all the beautiful colors together.

Then I got to spend some time at the ironing board! :o) My husband joked that I didn't know where the iron even was since he's never seen me do it. I know how to use an iron, thank you! I just choose not to. But with quilting, I'm not 'ironing', I'm "pressing". See? I'm learning.

 And these are some of the finished product. I ended up using most of the charm pack, minus the duplicates. I think I really only left 2 squares unused. Even then, I was as careful as possible to keep at least half of the square to add to my scrap pile. I see a stacked coins Christmas quilt in my future! Well, maybe after the umpteen projects the CraftMonster is piling up. :o)