Dish draining mats

I made myself these two dish draining mats from quilting cotton and old towels:

We don’t have a dishwasher, so everything is washed by hand. Stuff that’s too big for the drying rack goes on a microfiber mat I bought a few years ago, but only having one means that I don’t wash it as often as I want to.

I put poppers/snaps on one of them, as I want to be able to roll it up and store it easily (and cos I bought a snap press last month and had only used it once :grin:). I’m waiting before I put snaps on the second one, to make sure having snaps in the middle of the mat isn’t annoying.

If you’re planning to make some, don’t use the tightly woven bit of the towel. Because it gathers the fabric so much I couldn’t get the mat to lay flat. That’s why the surfers one is smaller - I had to cut it down to get it to lie flat.

I wanted a simple way to quilt them that didn’t involve stitching along previously sewn lines, so I decided to stitch these lines with angled tops. I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but to my mind they look like patterns in a swimming pool so I’m calling it swim lanes.

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They are both pretty and practical!
Great project!

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Swim lanes! Great name, especially considering the patterns on your fabrics! These are really cute and I need to make some for myself, also.

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Thank you! It was really easy to mark up, too. I did Horizontal lines 3" from both ends, then did vertical lines 2.5" apart, alternating stopping this line at the horizontal junction on the top then bottom, then top, etc. Then I just joined the diagonals, angled left at the top and right at the bottom. I suspect the scrappy back-of-post-it note explains it better, :rofl:

Love the fabrics!

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Great problem solving! So cute and so practical. I am a big proponent of incorporating the “one to show and one to go” theory of retail into the household with “one to use, one to wash” or similar if I can afford and store whatever second the “one” is.

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Yeah it also helps with the ADHD; one to use and one to lose :joy:

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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These would brighten any kitchen during dish time!

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:heart_hands: :unicorn: :dizzy: :revolving_hearts: :zap: Hey, hey, hey! Your topic is one of this week’s Featured Projects! Congratulations and thanks for sharing with our community! :heart_hands: :unicorn: :dizzy: :revolving_hearts: :zap:

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Aw thank you so much! That’s made my day :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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