PLACEMATS AGAIN AND MUSHROOMS

 This past week was filled with Thanksgiving preparations.  We share Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings and meals with our youngest daughter, she is in the medical field so always has to work on one or the other.  This year Thanksgiving was my holiday and she will do Christmas.  Between all the preparations I did take sometime to decompress in the sewing room.

I finished the top of my mushroom collage.  

I was attempting to recreate this photo I took in New Zealand several years ago. I am fairly pleased with the end results.  The dark background gave me a bit of a problem, so I ended up doing brighter colored stitches on and around the grasses.  I am now just waiting for an order of micro-polyester 100wt thread to quilt it with 1/2 inch apart straight stitching and finish it up.    

I finished up a second set of placemats for my daughter and decided it was my turn and quickly sewed up a set for myself for the Christmas season.  I have another set cut out and ready to put together.  If I can get myself together over the next week I should be able to finish them up and move back on to getting Sweet Tweet block 4 done and 5 started.  All this placemat construction and mushrooms has set me behind on that project.

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MUSHROOMS AND CARDINALS

This past week has had me finally finishing up 2 sets of placemats for my youngest daughter.  I handed off one set to her and hope to finish up the second set this coming week. As I have placemats under control and almost done I thought to try something new to work on between Sweet Tweet blocks.

I received this pattern free while ordering another project from Emily Taylor.  I figured to give this Beginner Level Project a whirl before starting on a more advanced one.  I have done a little bit of collage piecing, but these are a bit more advanced.  

I took this photograph in New Zealand several years ago.  I hope to collage the Mushroom pattern similar to these colors and designs.  Pulling fabric from my stash all day yesterday hoping to get started working on it this week.  

Thus far here is where I am with the mushroom collage.  I think I will do a different background more like the photo above.  

This is the project I purchased that I really want to work on.  Not a large piece just 14 by 14.  But perfect for an area in my home.  Looking forward to having it done by next Christmas.

I did purchase the fabric kit to go with the pattern and Take Flight her book as well.  I do appliqué all the time so feel that this should not be to much of an issue as the process is somewhat similar. 

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BLOCK 3 AND MIX AND MATCH

I finally got back to Sweet Tweet appliqué blocks this past week.   However placemats are still high on my to do list again.  Our youngest daughter's home is decorated in a Mid Century Modern theme and she requested some placemats.  Please no florals or pumpkins, OK so I dug around in my stash and got a few started for her.  She wants 8 so it will be a bit more of a chore than I do for the 4 I make for myself.

At last block three is done.  Those two yellow flowers at the top of the block were not fun at all.  There was no way to continuously appliqué them down.  Lots and lots of starts, stops, pull to the back threads and tie them. 

But don't they all three look fun together.  Row 1 is done!  So it is on to block 4 this week.

Here are the first 3 of 8 placemats for my daughter.  She got a sneak peek at them and is very happy with them.  Just have the other 5 to do the handwork on their bindings.  

And the reverse of fabrics for the second set of 8.  They can be mix and matched with the first set as well.   For some reason I had tons of these two fabrics in my stash and they have sat around for a couple years.  So a good use for them to find a home.  I will get these quilted and bound over the next couple weeks in between getting other projects worked on.


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NEW FALL RUNNER , PLACE MATS AND A PUPPY

I really need to get back to finishing Block 3 and move on to Block 4 of Sweet Tweets, but I have decided I need a couple of new fall runners and placemats for myself. 

After making a pumpkin runner for my daughter with a black cat on it I decided to make one for myself.  No cat on mine, our dog would be insulted if I had a cat on my runner.  Yes a bit of a color swap with the grey pumpkins but that looks perfect with the wild small pumpkin print and the leaves print border had grey in it too.  

And another set of place mates for our table.  Of all the various ones I have made this particular pattern is the fastest and easies to make.  The center is cut 10.5" square and the borders are 2.5", that makes a 14" square place mat.  Add several lines of serpentine quilting and the binding that take only 2 strips of 2.5" by WOF and they are done.

My daughter was here last month and we had a wonderful time quilting together.  She returned home after our visit and just this past week sent me a picture of her new baby.  

Big brother and the little guy are getting along really well.

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