Folded Patchwork coasters

There is a new forum up and running on the internet, called The Home Makers' Forum.  It is basically  about making our houses homely, via cooking, sewing, gardening, and looking after our health.  The members post ideas and opinions on the various categories so we can all share in each other's knowledge and tips.  One of the members challenged us to make these folded patchwork coasters, and posted this link to get us started:
Craft Genie's coasters
We were only supposed to make the initial square coaster, but when I looked further in to the Youtube site and saw all those cute coasters, I had to try them all, didn't I?!
They've been around a long time; in fact I've had some given to me in the past and wondered how they were made.  Well, now that I know, guess what I will be making closer to Christmas?
These are the front:

And this is the back.

Making a start on Japanese fabric quilt.

No, I haven't actually started it yet.  But with the help of my tutor Leanne at The Quilt Shop here in Eltham, I've decided on the pattern I will use to cut out and make up my beautiful fabrics.  It is based on a photo I saved on my Pinterest account, and Leanne spent a lot of time trying to figure out the measurements based on the photo, as of course, there was no pattern!  She concluded that it would be easier if we adjusted the pattern slightly to  suit what I wanted to do with my fabrics, then she worked out the measurements.  She suggested that I make templates, and cut out the shapes from other fabric in my stash, then sew them together to make sure I've got it right, rather than cut the Japanese fabrics and risk making a mistake. I'm so glad I did this, because even though I cut the square and rectangles correctly, I cut the sashing too narrow (1" instead of 1.5"), which meant  I had to cut the whole lot back half an inch all round to make it work!  There will be four blocks like this, although depending on how they look when I line them up, if I have enough fabric, I might make a fifth block to make the quilt a bit longer.

I think it looks good, and am now looking forward to cutting the "real thing"  next week at the Quilt Shop. I could do it at home, but there is so much more room to spread everything out there, instead of the small folding table I use at home.

Mini quilt and mini cross stitch finished.

I haven't done much at all this year really.  Not as much as I'd like to have, considering the amount of fabric and embroidery kits etc. in my stash.  But I got around to finishing my Owl Tree mini quilt, which may end up hanging on a wall some day.  For the moment it is tucked away in the cabinet where I now keep all my finished patchwork projects.  At least they have a home and I can find them quickly if I want to show anyone.

My friend Val suggested recently that we should get together and do some cross stitching, as it has been ages since either of us did that.  So I rummaged around in my UFO cross stitches box and found something that I figured I would be able to complete.  I will be showing Val this when we meet up next week, and I have made her promise to show me the cross stitch item she started :-)