Turtle Coasters

Not my best photo, but the winter isn't giving me much light to work with!
I just finished some little turtle coasters. My first coasters ever. It was hard to part with even the tiny squares of my turtle fabric. I just love that print. I don't know who makes it, but you can find it at several places that carry Japanese import fabrics.  I chose a plain patterned back side so that I could quilt meandering lines between the turtles on the front. If there were turtles on both sides, one side would have had quilting through the turtle's bodies and I didn't want that.
How I made them...

1. I cut 4.5" squares out of my front and back fabrics.  (I made two sets of coasters, four coasters in each finished set. So I cut out 8 fronts and 8 backs.)
2. I cut eight 4" squares of cotton batting that I had preshrunk. I also clipped the corners off of them so they would fit nice inside the coasters.
3. I stitched around the coasters with a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving about a 3" opening in the middle of one of the sides. I then turned them right side out through the opening.
4. I employed my husband to stuff the piece of batting into the coaster. =) =)  Then we pressed them flat with the iron. (If you read the post on Peggy's Place Mats, you will know that Ben is an expert place mat stuffer as well...)
5. I folded the edges of the opening to the inside and stitched around the coasters (probably about 1/8" from the edge), closing up the open side in the process.
6. Then, I sewed meandering lines between the turtles to quilt the coasters and hold the batting in place. I was careful not to stitch over border I already sewed in step #3 to keep them looking nice.
7. That's it, they're ready to give to a good home!

*I bought my turtle fabric at crafty planet.