holiday

Success. Place mats for my parents. I spent a quiet, wonderful, peaceful Christmas afternoon finishing the hand sewing on the binding while Dad cooked dinner and we all relaxed.. So I left 8 finished mats in the hands of my parents.

Pieced with scraps. Carefully quilted. I have a new understanding and love of my walking foot.

The blues are surrounded by Kona Cotton- something gray.Then I bound them in two different blues. Four in the dark and four in the light.

This project made me feel like a real sewer. A real quilter. Rulers and rotary blades. Changing feet on the machine. Staying calm and enjoying the process as it came together. Even learning something- mostly about tension on my machine. (I clamped the tension down for some of my quilting without meaning to. REAL noticeable different in the quilting and the strain it put on the fabric on those few mats. But I refrained from pointing this all out as they were being given as gifts. I'm sure I will be the only one to ever notice it.)
Of course, we need some close ups. 

8 matching place mats for my parents. Next to making my table pretty with these... I can think of no place I would rather see them than on my parent's table. Merry Christmas.
Made with some inspiration from the tutorial here.