Friday, 24 January 2014

The Blue Placemats

I wanted to give my parents something handmade for Christmas, and blue is always a safe bet with my mother. I had some scraps leftover from this table cloth. Well, actually I cut lots of extra 2 ½” strips for that quilt so that I could make a birthday quilt for grandson as well, and grandbaby’s christening quilt were also made from the same strips. So what does that make these little fabric scraps - leftovers from leftovers from leftovers? Leftovers three times removed? Never-ending fabric strips?

Anyway, I brought the scraps to a guild meeting a while ago, and randomly stitched them into a piece of made fabric jellyroll race style. This piece was cut apart and stitched back together with pieces of a recycled curtain fabric. The colour and look is rather denim-ish, but it is very soft and lovely.

While one side was bleached by the sun, the other side looked brand new and it passed the rip-test. If you are unfamiliar with this test, you grab the fabric with both hands, and pull as hard as you can. If it doesn’t rip, it’s fine to use.

I had just enough pieced fabric for 4 place mats, and they look quite different, which I like.

 


My quilting buddies and I had an interesting discussion about how to balance the made fabric and the top and bottom borders while I was making them. It was very interesting to hear the different point of views. No wonder that there are so many different quilts out there.

Simple straight-ish line quilting using the walking foot; goes with anything.

Maybe I should have quilted them with orange thread; the orange binding basting seams looked quite nice with all that blue.

Pictures taken in a hurry in the evening before my parents' arrival; I even forgot to sign them before wrapping them up. And I who sign Everything. Oh well; they know who made them.

Thanks for stopping by!

8 comments:

  1. It really is an eyeopener to hear different views on quilting. So MANY opinions! Really great placemats--they make a wonderful gift I'm sure. Thanks for sharing your rip tip. Haven't heard that one before.

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  2. Jeg hadde heller ikke hört "the rip tip." Det var ganske smart.
    Jeg er enig i at det fines så utrolig mange måter å quilte på. Det er bra at alle kan finne sin egen stil, det blir mere spennede da. Ha en fin helg.

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  3. These are lovely - it is always good to hear others' opinions - often they see things we don't! I like the different sizes on top and bottom - makes it more interesting. Have a lovely weekend - stay warm!

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  4. These are so simple yet so graphic and of course that little hit of orange. I love them. The background fabric has a wonderful textural quality that makes me want to touch it. Nice gift...xox

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  5. I nummer 1 av Quiltemagasinet från år 2011 såg jag Ditt mönster på "En blomma som aldrig vissnar" och har ända sedan dess haft den på "min vill-göra-lista" som jag har "i mitt huvud".
    Nu har jag sytt den och tycker att Din blomma är ljuvligt vacker, än i dag!
    Om Du är intresserad av att se hur jag har sytt min duk så visar jag den på min blogg i dag.

    Dollandesign

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  6. Love the groovy colours you've used on your work.
    I bet it will be a much loved gift.
    Cheers, Anita.

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