Placemat Frenzy

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but last week during the studio clean-up, I found a couple of UFQ's?!?  Actually I found more than a couple, but these two might come in handy very soon.  I hear I have nieces getting engaged and I need to be prepared.  So during September, I'm going to set a goal of finishing up the two sets of placemats I found. 

The first was made using Marti Michell's Flying Geese ruler to create these lightening streaks.  If you belong to a Marti and Me club at your local quilt shop, the pattern for these is included in one of the early club patterns -- I have 4 of them pieced and a lovely backing fabric already chosen. 

 For years, I have interlined placemats and table runners with flannel rather than batting -- it gives me a flatter finished product (no tipping wine glasses).  I buy a plain white flannel which I wash and dry two or three times to make sure it is preshrunk completely.

I also found 4 of these ready to assemble.  This set was made with a pack of 5" charm squares, 1/2 yard of border fabric, and Marti Michell's Tessellated Windmill tool.  They are 3" finished blocks and I love that there is NO waste using Marti's tool. 

One of the placemats is even finished -- why did I stop? 

Isn't the backing fabric lovely? 

Since I have no idea where my nieces' tastes fall in the area of decorating, I need a little more flexibility in case neither of these sets work.  During the clean-up, I found a stack of 8 fat quarters that I've been itching to cut up.   And placemats are perfect -- a simple project that doesn't require a huge investment of time.

I'm going to use another pattern which I wrote 12 years ago.  I use it over and over!!  My Fat Quarter Placemat pattern uses a stack of 8 fat quarters to make a set of 8 placemats.  Sometimes I've given away 6 and kept 2 for myself.  Sometimes I've given away two sets of 4.

I often make or purchase a set of napkins that coordinate.  For that bold group of fabrics, I'm going to make solid color napkins -- two each in gold, turq, red, and dark gray -- keep the fun, funky look going! 

These backings are very coordinated but sometimes I choose a much larger scale print or a different style to make a truly reversible set. 

One of the sets I made using this pattern several years ago (long since given away) used 8 background prints -- today, we would call them "low-volume".  Once the tops were pieced, I layered them with the flannel interlining and before adding the backing fabric, I added an herb embroidery design to each one (justifying that Bernina embroidery machine I bought!).

Linking up over at Freshly Pieced -- just love seeing what everyone else is up to these days!!

Mary Huey

www.maryhueyquilts.com