These placemats have been my leader/ender project for some time now. I used cut blocks from my 2-inch square bin.
Six are scrappy, but I did play with color organization in some. And six are made withone color family.
All the bindings save the green one came from my saved bag of leftover bindings. How fun is that.
I had enough of this fabric for all 12 placemats–and as they will be used here in coastal South Carolina, the “watery” theme will be fun.
Here’s what a pile of 12 placemats looks like. They won’t take up much space in a drawer.
And there is one other note. I have been trying to learn to install a binding on a quilt with my sewing machine. The president of Patchwork Gals makes these bindings beautifully, so I was inspired to learn how to do this task as well as many quilters now do. In her extensive demonstration, she made for us recently, I learned a lot.
But, only one of these placemats has machine sewn binding. It is ok, but not as pretty as what others can do. It takes practice they say–and figuring out what works for you and your machine.
I’ve ordered a special foot for my Janome that might help: a left side bi-level foot. It is meant to work with things like bindings.
We’ll see. Meanwhile, I hand-sewed 11 of these placemats, and I’m happy with them.
Next up: more placemats using the 2.5-inch bin of squares. Maybe I’ll try machine sewing this batch.
Time will tell.
Louisa Enright's Blog 
Very nice!
I used to work in a LQS that had a great method for machine binding. I’d be happy to share it with you.
Wow, you bind on the longarm??? I can’t even…
Is there a video?
The method I learned was not done on the longarm. I think there is a way but I cannot imagine!
placemats are lovely- very cheery! Do you use some sort of batting inside? Mine w/o batting arent enough but w batting , can be too chubby. I want a glass to be stable. Any suggestions? Thanks! Be well! Hugs to you.
I use my quilting batting for the insides. You could always use a lightweight batting, like Dream Cotton Request. I use Warm and Natural batting–a regular weight. The placemats seem stable with a glass. But we use a lot of ice here too, so I usually use a coaster with a lip for glasses.
thank you, Louisa! Hugs to you!