Christmas Candle Mats

Have you thought about trying a simple English Paper Piecing (EPP) project, but didn't know where to start?  Marty is making these wonderful Candle Mats using cute Christmas fabrics and 1-1/4" hexagon papers.  She has used the acrylic templates from Paper pieces to cut out the fabrics, so she can see exactly how the fabrics will look in the mats,

Marty stitched the hexagons together, then used WoolFelt on the back to make the finishing simple, and to double as a table protector.  Here's how she did it:

After stitching all the hexagons together, she pressed the mat carefully and removed the papers.  She then traced the mat on a fusible like Steam a Seam II, used a ruler and rotary cutter to cut the fusible 1/8" smaller than the mat all the away around, and fused the fusible to a piece of coordinating WoolFelt.  Peel the paper off--Save It!  You can use it for a pattern for future mats!--and fuse the WoolFelt to the back of the mat.

Marty's pretty fast, and can make a mat in an evening.  You have lots of time to make these as fun Christmas presents!

You can order the 1-1/4" papers and the acrylic template at http://www.backdoorquilts.com/nl.asp?p=0&c=19