A Canning Mat

 I've mentioned already that I really love the oversized hot pads that I've made. I didn't realize how handy they would be.

While looking through another canning site, I noticed that the site owner uses and sells canning mats. They are essentially a larger, more square version of the oversized hot pad. You use them to place your hot processed jars on so they can cool. The danger of just setting them on your counter is basically HOT jars on a COOL counter = thermal shock and jar breakage (sometimes violently).

So, I plan to make myself one pretty soon. However, I recently got some John Deere fabric from someone. And I had an idea.

My mom's husband is a jam maker. And also a fan of John Deere.

 Seems like these two things might 'jam' together pretty well. (See what I did there.) (Don't groan.)

And so, I went to work. 

I cut everything to size and made my fabric "sandwich". I realized, while opening up the smaller fabric I intended to use to make the binding, I actually had three different prints rather than the two I thought. 

His canning mat is going to be reversible. Hey, hey!

I was a little put out when I realized that I just made a bigger rectangle though. I really wanted a nice square. But he won't care. In fact, it will probably work better with their counters. And I can just make mine more square later.

Instead of using the masking tape method from the original post this time though, I used an iron off pen and a ruler to make some diagonal lines. After using my walking foot to machine quilt directly on the lines I drew, it was easy peasy to run an iron over it and make those lines disappear. 

I really like the diagonal quilting on the print on this side. The other one looks good too but I especially like it with this print. I was pretty pleased with how the quilting turned out all around.

A little binding made from the third fabric (which is a random mish mash of John Deere hats) and all done. 

I think it turned out pretty well. It does lay flat but I had rolled it up to tuck into the goody box we place things to take to Arkansas when I realized I had not taken a picture of the final product.

I seriously recommend making one of these mats. It is so handy to have and super cute too. The link to my first post about them is here.

Happy sewing! And canning! And baking too!