stash placemats and a baby boy quilt "ships & sails"

Stuff for Etsy. Placemats from my stash, which is big enough (thanks to Nancy) to create a thousand combinations.

The pink and yellow polka dot is left over from Casey's "sugar sand" baby quilt. Some of these fabrics I've had since the 1980s, some I've bought more recently, and some have been given me by my stash sister Nancy. There is even fabric from my mom's old doilies, the ones I made coasters with.

* * *

This blue and white stripe was a dust ruffle. I am trying to remember if we used it in one of our houses or if Nancy gave me this too. Besides that fabric, many of these triangles (flying geese) were fabrics she gave me which are shirting. I have always loved quilts made from shirts. Anyway, this will be a baby boy quilt to [hopefully] sell in my Etsy shoppe. I've quilted one small section. I think I'll straight-line quilt the triangles and free-motion quilt the other panels in swirls to resemble wind and waves. The quilt is called "ships & sails," which rhymes with "snips and snails and puppy dog tails." I'll post when finished.

Portofino placemats & napkins

My great-niece is getting married in Florida soon, so we Michigan aunts are giving her a shower, for which she is flying in.


I "shopped" for fabrics to make placemats and napkins in the stash Nancy has given me from her travels in South Carolina and Michigan. The bride and groom have chosen red accents for their kitchen. Their taste is elegant and traditional.

My love affair with printed linens like this deepens. It's like a toile, but is it?

I thought it would make magnificent napkins.

And I think I was right.

We'll see if I make it with these and the chicken salad to the shower tomorrow since I came down with a hum dinger of a cold last night. Don's chicken soup (from the chicken for the salad, yes) is soothing my raw throat. In fact, he is helping with all the prep and will even drive the stuff across the state in the morning if I am not up to going.

I hope Emma has chosen as much of a winner as I did nearly 36 years ago.

reds of winter

With all the cold and snow, color and heat are necessary.

Two projects for gifts. The blocks above are for a baby quilt I'm calling "sugar sand." It's for a mama-to-be who lives on a dune. The beautiful sand of Lake Michigan is called sugar sand. The mama loves hot pink and yellow. This is a subtle interpretation of those colors. The tan linen reminds me of sandpaper, and I adore it.

Below are fabrics for placemats and napkins for a bride-to-be. My stashy sister Nancy gave me all but the ochre with Swissy dots. The linen on the left is more of the stuff that I have loveloveloved from her. She visits shops in Myrtle Beach and gathers remnants for a song. I will make reversible placemats with the reds, binding in the ochre, and napkins from the linen toile-ish print.

Here is the arrangement my siblings sent for my mother-in-law's funeral. They have dried so beautifully, even the orchids. Sadly, I bumped them as I walked by and some orchid blossoms fell atop the roses. 

Arles placemats

My second commission (!) was for eight placemats in Provençal colors. I had all the fabrics on-hand from other projects, but I needed to purchase more turquoise and white dots for the binding.

Improvising the design for each mat is a heavenly task. I get into Zen mode and let the fabrics tell their story.

The tangerine linen comes off brighter in photos than it truly is.

The story on the backs is simpler.

mat backs

With fabrics as fun as this linen toile, stories are easy to imagine. It doesn't hurt that I lived in Istanbul. My sister Nancy gave me the linen toile with sultans and also the red toile with French scenes.

mat backs

Do you recognize the tangerine linen from Inge's dress? If so, thank you for paying attention. :)

Even the red and white dots were in Inge's dress, in the Hong Kong seams.

I machine quilted every 5/8".

See the little peek of plaid from Bootsie & Astrid's placemat backs?

The person who ordered these placemats did not want napkins. If you were to order napkins for this set, what fabric would you choose?

Etsy listing here.

Tuscan placemats & napkins

I had a delicious time sewing with these soft batiks, so lush.

This was a custom order for six placemats and napkins (my first!)

When I browsed batiks at the local quilt shop, I was overwhelmed with their beauty and uinqueness.

Combinations are endless. I especially love these warm earthy colors the customers requested. I free-motion machine quilted around the florals.

They would also be beautiful in blues, browns, golds, reds, purples, all available in batik.

Etsy listing here.

Bootsie & Astrid's brown & olive linen placemats, and a new mug mat

I finished and shipped a gift to my sister Ginnie (she's Bootsie to me) and her wife Astrid in the Netherlands for their summer birthdays, and since they have received them now, I can post photos. :)

Four reversible placemats and napkins. My sister Nancy gave me a stash of fabric she's been collecting, and the front and back fabrics of the placemats were from that stash. I picked out the binding trim and napkin fabrics at the quilt store. This binding is the same as for Olive's quilt (here and here). (Nancy's birthday is tomorrow, and I am trying to be patient until she can tell me what I can make for her bedroom. A wall hanging? A quilted pillow?)

I quilted straight lines every 1"

The brown linen is just beautiful, and I was able to frame four different floral patterns because of the large repeat.

I know there is a way to straighten the edges of the placemat in the photo in PhotoShop,
but suffice to say that the placemats are straight in person.

As for the quilting lines' imperfections,
they witness that this is handmade. :)

My sisters tell me they love them and intend to use them every day, which makes me supremely happy. Now I am almost with them at their table. One day, I hope Don and I can join them for real.

I also sewed a mug mat for my Etsy shop. The cat and bird linen and some of the other remnants were part of Henry's quilt.

front

back

I do believe tan/brown and blue/turquoise are my favorite colors together. Anything with brown just sends me.

I am designing more mug mats today. Joy!

placemats, napkins and a mug mat

Life has been happening! But I've made a few gifts. This is good for practice in design and craft.

Next weekend I will go to a dune by Lake Michigan with friends. I sewed gifts for each of the three ladies. A dress for the one whose birthday we are celebrating, which I won't show here. A set of four placemats and napkins for the hostess. And a mug mat for our friend from Minnesota.

The hostess loves blue and yellow.

All summer she stays at her house on the dune and sleeps on the screened in porch under pines. Her dining table is also on the porch. I think these will be cheery.

I enjoy sewing mitered napkin corners.

And for our friend visiting from Minnesota, a mug mat.

summer rose placemats & "flying north" quilt

a quick pair of placemats for practice

It's been five weeks since last post. Our granddaughter Olive was born (beautiful!!), and life got very busy with family and work. I've had just a couple of home days for quilting.

My current big project (below) is taking forever because I am quilting every 3/8". Why did I think this was a good idea?

Here is the whole quilt top before starting to quilt:

The right side is tan moiré, slightly darker
than the left side of muslin.
I call this "Flying North."

I am actually enjoying the improvisational quilting. It is meditative, and I just have to forget about how much is left to do, which is about half the quilt (45" x 65" or so).

But I longed to design and finish something. So I made a set of four coasters for Lesley for her birthday next week. I didn't get photos. Today, I wanted to finish something again, so after adding a few patterns of quilting on "Flying North" I pieced and quilted a pair of placemats.

the floral fabric was a 50's tablecloth of my mom's;
I had tried to incorporate it in the last project,
which was quite a fail, though I will make it into
a picnic blanket

I learned a few things making these placemats, and so I'll probably keep them for us. I did better with the top stitching along the edge with the walking foot than the regular foot, and I need to be more precise making a straight edge. I like improvisational piecing, but I'd like the edges straighter. They are also too small for regular dinner plates. I will love using them though, they are so cheerful! I used this same aqua in Lesley's coasters, with deep blood red and green, and I'm beginning to think aqua is just the color to pull others together.

The Brother PQ1500 sewing machine is still great, though I had MAJOR issues with tension last time I  free motion quilted. I kept getting bunched up thread underneath. After reading a suggestion online to change thread, I did, and it totally solved it! From now on, only Coats & Clark Dual Duty thread for me. Maybe I should call "Flying North" "War & Piece" instead. ;-)