Another finished Christmas gift

I finished the playmat for my daughter yesterday. It's a Moda Bake Shop pattern and you can find it here. This was a nice quick layer cake project.  I had won the Punctuation layer cake from an online fabric company that now seems to be gone. :( But when I saw this project I definitely wanted to make this one.

Here's a peek at the back and the little rock pockets in the corner. Very clever addition! I went with a dark background so it can be taken outside and I won't stress too much about dirt.

Here's a close up of my applique. It's a little rough on the mat because I didn't use stablizer. After a couple recommendations on my last post, I did use stabilizer on the bean bags and it helped A LOT!

The stitching on this is much cleaner.

And I got to use my much neglected pinking shears. Actually, this may be the first time I've ever used them! They were part of the sewing kit my mother passed on to me.

Silly story about the bean bags. I went to the craft store looking for some type of plastic/synthetic filler for the bags. I asked one of the employees where I might find some. She directed me, then added, "but it might be cheaper just to fill it with beans".  DING! Oh yeah, bean bags.  Duh.  So I used some dried beans inside the bags and I'll just have to remember to store them in a dry location so they don't try and sprout.

And finally the cute little tote. LeAnne has the tote instructions on her blog here. Very easy. And so smart, it's big enough to hold the mat and the bean bags.  This was a great little project, the directions were easy to follow and it came together quickly. Lets hope the little princess likes it too!