The Place Mats - Finished

I decided I was going to make place mats with the left over wonky log cabin fabric back in  ... oh, JUNE! And, finally, in the last couple of weeks I finished them.

I used this quilted place mats tutorial on Pink Penguin.  I modified it a little.  First, the size.  I made ours the size of the green place mats we use now ... so slightly bigger than the tutorial.  I also decided to make them double sided, instead of a solid back.  Also, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to play around with free motion quilting and the walking foot on the new sewing machine. So all the quilting is different; some I like more than others.

a fun little swirl turned flower-ish.  this is one of the ones that I just started quilting without any real plan.

a couple of the straight line ones.  I should have slowed down.  So, ya know, the lines would've been straighter!

the only stippled one I did. Man, I got hand cramps and had to take a break, TWICE.  But I really like the look. Maybe one day I'll bite the bullet and actually stipple a quilt! 

all 10.  8 regular sized ones and two smaller ones (for the kids) that were just left over blocks from the wonky quilts (those two have solid black backs)

I think what I most learned on these place mats is how much quilting changes the look of the quilt.  in the ditch, beside the ditch, straight lines, free motion ... they all REALLY change the overall look of the work.

We'll still use the green place mats until they are ready to be retired, but it's pretty nice to have place mats that match the black napkins and blue dishes a little better. Plus, I only used fabric, thread and batting I already had.