Quilted Placemats

Well hello there, my gorgeous friend.  You get prettier every time I see you, and I'm not just saying that.

So, last week I showed you my quilted table runner, which I really like.  And it was fun to make too, which is saying something since I've never quilted anything in my life.  I had so much fun in fact, that I decided to make some quilted placemats.

I love these bundles you find at the fabric store:

I have trouble with matching colors and patterns.  That's right, I admit it to the world: I am matching-deficient.  These bundles make it simple for me to put something together and not have someone say, "Those blues are all wrong together."  It can really dampen a seance, friends.

Using the same method as I did for the runner, I made placemats.  Easy-schmeasy.

I love them.  And since I have a frightening lack of placemats in my home, I might pick up a couple more bundles to make some more.

Now if you'll pardon me, I have to return to the seance... I think we've finally got Elvis on the line.
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Quilted Table Runner

Hi there everyone!  I know it's been quiet here on the blog... everyday I keep picturing cyber tumbleweeds blowing across my webpage.  But I'm busy gestating over here and while I'm creating life, I'm enjoying reading other blogs.  And I have been crafting, believe it or not.  I even made a quilted table runner.  ALL BY MYSELF.  I know, I'm simply super-awesome.

Well, I found the instructions on another blog.  This one, to be specific.  Still, I did all the cutting and sewing and whatnot myself.  Small victories, people.

Made it myself.  I was just as amazed as you are.

I love those fabric bundles they sell at the fabric store.  I found a great "Americana" one that I really wanted to use for a tablecloth or something, but I couldn't make the math work.  And I vowed after my college calculus class was over that I would never add more than three numbers together in my head because I value my sanity.

I took my fabric bundles and cut 2" strips of the pretty patriotic fabric.  I left some 6" strips too, because this runner is reversible and I wanted different patterns on the front and back of the runner.

I lined up my 2" strips onto my batting and started sewing.  HERE'S WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT:  The blogger I followed sewed her strips right onto the batting.  Because she's totally a quilting rock-star and is much more talented than I am.  When I did that, my strips got a little... wonky.  So if I did this again, I wouldn't sew the strips directly to the batting until the quilting part.  PSA over.

I took two strips and put them together, right sides facing each other.  I sewed with a 1/4" seam allowance and then pressed the seams open.

I did that to the entire runner and then the backside as well.  This was really simple, but did take some time because I kept having to go to the bathroom and tinkle.  SWEET MOSES, IF THIS KID DOESN'T MOVE OFF MY BLADDER, I'M INVESTING IN DIAPERS.

Anyhoo, once I had all the strips sewn together, I attached the batting and the backside.  I quilted it with my sewing machine, using straight lines and just eye-ballin' it.  I felt like I knew what I was doing for a minute.

 Back side...

Front side.

Once it was quilted together, I used my rotary cutter to trim the edges to the size I needed.  I was already in love.

Once that was done, I used the same blog to bind the edges.  I did that.  It really happened.  That blogger deserves some sort of medal for writing a tutorial on quilt binding that I understood.  Maybe she needs a parade, too.  I'll work on it.

Once the binding was done, so was I.  I love it so much, I did another similar project that I'll share eventually.  Probably a thousand years from now, but these things can't be rushed.  And now, I need to tinkle again.

I link up at these great parties!