Mediterranean Love

You know how things just pop up on ya?  You know they are coming, and then BAM they are HERE!!!!  That is what happened this week with my cousin's wedding shower. Her wedding is in July (and has been planned for months, but in my head there were no thoughts of a shower gift (or a wedding gift for that matter).  THEN the invitation comes and yet STILL I do not come up with any ideas or plans.  GRRR...  So long story short I had to come up with an impromptu wedding shower gift---while at the same time planning and preparing for a yard sale.  Kinda kicked my butt---not gonna lie.  I have had a week of 1 or 2 in the morning nights and bright and early mornings.  BUT big sigh of relief....last week is over and I believe it ALL got done...PHEWW!!!

The bright idea for a tablerunner came from a quick trip to JoAnne's.  I found some fabric that I could not live without and so I decided SOMEONE should enjoy it. What I found was a pack of charm squares called Neutral Mediterranean.  Don't you love the oranges and teals---PLUS brown----what could be better???  AND it was fate because they actually had coordinating fabric for the binding, sashing and backing---that never happens at JoAnne's (Am I the only one who never finds coordinating fabrics there and grinds her teeth in frustration over the the lack of matching items----why do they not carry LINES of fabric?).  Anyway....I decided to use my old standby pattern that can be found over HERE at Camille's blog.  I have made this pattern----hmmmmm at least 10 times and have ALWAYS loved the results.  It is quick, easy, and super cute.  Plus it is simple to make it bigger or smaller than the pattern just by removing rows ( I swear I am not a paid spokesperson for this pattern:>)

And isn't the backing just---yummy.  I LOVE this fabric---did I already say that???  I think this would be fun even flipped over with the back showing---for a change. 

I also made some matching kitchen towels.  I used 4 charm squares---sewed them together in a row.  I left the raw edges on the sides because it was past midnight and I am lazy like that.  Then I folded under the sides to match up with the sides of the towels.  I squirted the towel with spray starch and then ironed the strip on to the towel---the starch kept it temporarily stuck to the towel.  Then I sewed around the edges and VOILA!!!

I was WAY to unprepard to actually have a card on hand, so this was what I came up with.  I took a leftover charm square.  Cut a piece of paper (I used construction-ish paper) the same size. Then I sewed around the edges using a zig-zag stitch.

SEE???

On the backside you get a cute little border around the edges of the paper--kinda lacey???  Then add your words of wisdom (this was the hard part for me) and ta-da---instant card.

Doesn't she look cute peeking out from the tissue (all crafts are SHES by the way)???  I realize the tissue looks like it went through a tornado, but I forgot to pull the handle up before filling the basket---see the problem???

I SOOO plan on going back and getting more of this fabric.  It is TOTALLY ME and needs to have a new home in my front room (and kitchen and maybe my bathroom--who is to say where I will stop).  SOOO in less than 4 hours of work I got a quilted tablerunner---3 towels---a handmade card---and a huge freaking headache.  NOT BAD FOR  A DAYS WORK ♥