Little Vacation Project

 What do you do when you're leaving for vacation in a few days and you need a hand sewing project to take along? Well, make placemats, of course. Sewing the binding down on a set of placemats has been a favorite vacation project for me for several years. It doesn't take much space and I do about half of the binding on a placemat each evening for some relaxation (after watching the sun set). 

Since I didn't have much time to prepare, I made the placemats as simple (but attractive) as possible. A few years ago I bought fabric (while on vacation) to make three pillowcases for an organization that was collecting them for refugees. The collection ended (I think) before I had a chance to sew them. All of the fabric was in the bin where I keep pieces for making donation projects. There was plenty for three placemats, including backing. I did sub in two pinks from my scrap drawers for more contrast on two of the placemats.

In case you are interested in the "pattern," I cut a 15 by 11 3/4 inch piece and a 15 by 3 3/4 inch piece of one fabric for the main part of the placemat and a contrasting 15 by 4 1/2 inch strip. I also cut a 20 by 16 inch backing. After piecing the front, I cut a batting just a bit larger.

I quilted each placemat with wavy lines. Meandering would have been even faster, but this is what they wanted. Threads were just what I had on hand.

After quilting I trimmed each placemat to 18 by 14 inches. I cut the bindings 2 1/2 inches wide and pieced as needed.

When I finished stitching down the bindings, I took some photos while I was still on vacation. It wasn't convenient to display them on location outside, so I just placed them here and there around our rental, which was a charming 100+ year old craftsman bungalow. (There are some creases on them from folding; I'll press them before donating.)

With some of the rocks and coral fossils we picked up on the beach

With a cute little pitcher I found in a cupboard

And my favorite--on an original radiator. Look at that lovely metal pattern!

I can't show vacation sewing without a few vacation photos, right?  We've been to this area of northern Michigan several times, so I'll share just a few of my favorite locations as well as some flowers that caught my eye.

Lake Huron

Forty Mile Point Lighthouse

A side trip to Lake Michigan (see the Mighty Mac Bridge?)

Ocqueoc Falls

Rogers City sunset with the dancing tree

My favorite flower color

Autumn coming on at our rental

This reminds me of a quilt I made

Had to include this too--a tiny barn quilt on our "neighbor's" garage

I'll be adding the placemats to my growing stack for donation to Meals on Wheels. And now I'll be back to my latest project: another improv quilt based on Laura Veenema's Modern Improv Quilting. Here's what I've been playing with.

I have a long way to go, but it's so much fun!

So there you have it--my little vacation project. I do have to say I know it's a privilege to take a vacation--even a small one--when so much is wrong in our world. It was a beautiful distraction from discouraging and even maddening news. However, we could never be completely away from reality. We found ourselves on a military training flight path with F16s flying over us four days in a row, the deafening roar drowning out the sounds of nature long after the jets were gone. (Later we heard one had crashed in a residential area on the other side of the state about 130 miles from where we stayed. The pilot baled at the last second, and as far as I know no one on the ground was injured although there were evacuations for hazardous chemicals.) It brought me back to the Cold War years, when the sound of military jets flying over terrified me. Even on vacation we were reminded of the fragility of our existence and the high cost of focusing on war exercises while money is denied to support humanity. 

In my country, we are coming up on some important elections. This is my public service announcement to my fellow citizens: Do your research carefully and vote ALL the issues and government seats all the way down to the local level. We need to vote our way out of the mess we are in, taking special care to preserve our constitution and democracy and to strengthen our commitment to improve community life and support the dignity of everyone. 

Yeah, I know, this is a quilting blog. But it's also real life. After you do your voting homework, you can get back to quilting.

I'm not linking this post to any parties this month. Parties seem to be dwindling, and my little project didn't seem to meet the criteria for the ones I usually link to. So I'm sending this out into the blogosphere hoping maybe someone will see it. I still want to document my quilting journey. If you read this and have suggestions for parties, please share with me.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked, not officially promoting anything.) 

Placemats and fabric memories

Few more placemats--of course! These were fun--of course! They always are. I'm going to show you the last one first, because it's my favorite.

I have a fairly large (for me) collection of solid fabrics and decided it's time to use up some of them. Or try to anyway. I also have a fascination with the quilts that Laura of New Song Quilting makes. She has a book (and another coming out soon) showing her techniques for improv piecing with solids. I think what draws me to her quilts, aside from the modern look, is the kind of structured improv she uses to make them. So on impulse, I ordered her book.

Look at the small print in that title: Be the boss of your design. Okay then. For my placemat, I used some of the designs in her first set of techniques in the book, but since I am the boss, I scaled them way back. I also skipped a half circle design because I didn't feel like messing with tiny half circles. Here's my placemat in progress. (Ignore the competing design of the quilt on my ottoman under the blocks. Oh, and my feet, too.)

To make these kinds of quilts, you make a few of several "blocks" and then arrange them, sew them together in chunks and then fill in with more blocks and extra strips. The idea is to get a balanced distribution of color and design. I was playing with these colors as I had been attracted to similar colors in a quilt I saw this summer by Pat Budge and wondered if I'd like to make a whole quilt with them. This type of improv went slowly for me, partly because of scaling back the design and figuring out what sizes worked together, but also because I found it somewhat challenging to balance the colors and design. Challenging in a good way though. I got more comfortable with it as I went. So anyway, this placemat violates one of my rules about making placemats quick and easy. But I loved the process. Worth it to buy the book, something I rarely do.

For the back of the quilt, I used some strips of the same colors, all from my solids bin. 

I quilted with my walking foot, breaking another recent placemat rule (meanders are quicker than walking foot), but hey, I'm the boss. My pressure was a little off, so there's a bit of pulling, but that's okay. It's just a placemat. I used the dark coral in one corner of the binding because I didn't want to have the blue binding touch blue on the front of the quilt. Then on a whim, I also used the coral in the opposite corner to balance things out. I know this doesn't make sense looking at the back. Just scroll back up to the photo of the front and you'll see what I mean. 

All in all I'm thrilled with the result. I really like the book. The techniques are clearly described and the photos are beautiful. The only thing I had some trouble with was the challenge of reading the very small gray font with my aging eyesight. A larger font, darker print or both would have been helpful. I have a ruler with a magnifying section that I kept handy whenever I read it. That concern aside, I know this is going to be a well-used reference in my quilting library. 

The other two placemats were more like my usual ones. Quick and easy. One is quite vintagey looking, and I wondered if it's a little too old fashioned. But everyone has different tastes, so I'm sure someone will like it. 

I started with the rose print, and then found coordinating scraps for the stripe. I have to be careful of what I say about the vintage-ness or how old the fabrics are because I'm sure I'll offend my daughter--who isn't vintage. Ha Ha. Anyway that rose print is from a dress I made for her for her 6th grade "graduation," a ceremony her school held when students moved from 6th grade in one building to 7th in another. I can prove it.

There she is with her friends--and privacy protection. Pink and flowers were big that year apparently. I think it was 1993. Oh, and I still have the dress!! It even matches the chair in the bunk room.

I probably had some idea that my granddaughter would wear it someday, but we all know how that goes. Times change, styles change. And now she's taller than her mother and about to start high school so that ship has sailed.

Now, look at the lightest pink print in the stripe. Yup, another vintage scrap from a dress I also made for my daughter sometime in the late 80's/beginning 90's for an 1800's day. And yes, I have a photo of her wearing it.

Little House on the Prairie, anyone? And surprise, surprise. I still have the dress.

By the time my granddaughter was that age, 1800's field trips weren't a thing I think, but it's still in the closet.

(The grayish blue dot print below the pink print on the placemat is from the January block of a cloth calendar I made in the early 1980's. And no, I no longer have that. A memory, anyway, though.)

I had enough to make the back of the placemat from the rose print. And there are still a few scraps left. Sigh. I meandered the quilting in this quilt. Quick and easy.

The other placemat is made from a baggie of multicolored scraps I put together in the last year or so. 

Yup, this one has some memories, too. The thin striped fabrics and the leaf print on the right are leftovers from my granddaughter's baby quilt. You can see it here if you'd like. The back has some extreme piecing to make enough fabric for stripes. 

See that turquoise strip? Lots of small pieces to get enough. That was my favorite Amy Butler (I think) print (Lark?) for many years. Now I think I have a tiny scrap left. Waah. I did walking foot quilting on this one, too. So much for my placemat rules. But I am the boss. Or maybe my quilts are.

So that's it for my placemats this month. As usual, they are 18 by 14 inches, pieced on my Featherweight and quilted on my 115 treadle. All scraps, with frankenbatting. I was going to do the hand binding on them while listening to carillon concerts at our local university, but it was just too hot. (High 90s, high humidity,) Instead I sat and mopped my brow with a cold cloth. The music was good, though. These will go into the collection for Meals on Wheels at my local quilt shop.

So what's next? Well, I was at my local gift/quilt shop the other day and saw a bolt end on sale. It came home with me. My next quilt was going to be the same color scheme as the first placemat, but there's been a change. The bolt end will be the back. I bought the snow, teal and darker oranges at local stores and have some scraps to make a solids improv front, but I had to order a bit more of the greens. Should be here any day. I guess I'm not using up my solids after all.

I hope you've enjoyed my little trip down memory lane and my placemats. Keep sewing, keep scrapping, and if you have a primary election coming up in my country, take time out to VOTE. It's vital. One of the issues in my county is renewal of library millage. I'm glad it's a non-controversial issue in my area, but I am doing my part by proudly displaying my yard sign.

This week, I'm linking up with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked, not officially promoting anything.)

Placemats, MHMH blocks, and Nature Pretties

 So, it's been a minute. May was a busy month for our family. We went to the Chicago area on the train for our granddaughter's choir concert (so good!), then we went back by car for her 8th grade graduation (and more singing), her weekend volleyball tournament and our grandson's baseball tournament. In between I did a tiny bit of sewing. That's what Meals on Wheels placemats are for: tiny sewing when you don't have a lot of time. I sewed the binding of one during one of our trips, but didn't really have time to finish the other two until we got home.  And here they are.

You might recognize the fabrics from this first one. They are the leftovers of the double churn dash quilt I made in April. Each set of churn dashes had one unused set of HSTs so I stitched them together with the leftovers of the backing fabric.

I had just enough fabric for the back along with a very old scrap for the binding. I used an old spool of rainbow colored thread for meandering quilting. As usual, the size is 18 by 14 inches.

For my next placemat I used my new favorite way of construction, using a leftover piece of fabric (this one is from a pillowcase I made for my granddaughter a few years ago) and finding bits of scraps to make a colorful strip and some binding.

I was able to use more of the black print for the back, but had to make another colorful strip to make it fit. Quilting was with the same rainbow colored thread I used on the first placemat.

I found another larger scrap for my third placemat. Leftovers of a top I made a few years ago in a sew along with Bernie of Needle and Foot. (Thanks for the memory, Bernie and the fabric which I bought from you, too.) It was fun picking out browns for the strip.

There was plenty of fabric left for a simple backing. I quilted wavy walking foot lines with off white thread, and used a leftover bit of a tiny brown check for the binding.

I thought these photos were a bit boring, so I tried a bit of staging. Meh. I'm not a still life photographer. Backgrounds and good lighting are a mystery to me. Oh well. 

Okay, one more look at all of them together and then we'll move on to June's progress so far.

This quarter of the Many Hands and Many Hearts block collection hosted by Cynthia is a version of the Potato Chip block made in complementary colors. What fun for another project that can be done a little at a time. (I won't promise that it will keep things neat. Those little scraps pile up everywhere.) I had so much fun choosing scraps. I started with my bins and used up whatever could be cut to the right size. Then I dug in my drawers for other pieces. These are still mostly scraps, but they are bigger than the ones in my bins because I can wrap them on a piece of cut-up comic book board to fit my drawers. I tried not to repeat too many fabrics. 

First, orange and blue.

Red and green.

And, yellow and purple.

The lighting is not great in these photos. Our house tends to be darker in summer than in winter because of trees. Imagine them as brighter. I found that I tended to place fabrics sort of symmetrically with similar hues or values placed across from each other, often diagonally. This seemed to bring a bit of order to the scraps and helped me place more modern and more vintage fabrics in the same block. 

Here they all are together.

Kind of saturated. It will be fun to see how they get placed with the blocks of other contributors. 

So enough of the dark interior photos. Let's finish with what's going on outside this month. 

Peony

Spike Speedwell

Liatris coming up

More spikes with penstemon

Baby Spikes

First daylily of the year

Cute deer on our bike ride this week

And a gorgeous rainbow at golden hour out our front door

And one more just for fun. The sunrise bothers me three hours before I'm ready to get up, so I finally did something about it. I grabbed some old soft knit scraps from long-ago baby or doll clothes sewing,  rough-cut three layers, sandwiched some tee shirt mask tie loops from Covid sewing days and messily sewed them all together. As soon as the sun comes in, I grab the mask, and it's back to sleep I go. It actually works. Perfect. But probably a bit scary looking to my husband. Maybe someday, I'll make a pretty quilted one. But probably not. Ha Ha.

That's it for this month. I have some ideas swirling for another quilt, so we'll see what happens over the next few months. I'm linking this up with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap on Sunday. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying projects whether big or small as well as the beauty of nature. 

Hope. Such a wonderful word. Something we all need now more than ever.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with ( any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked, not officially promoting anything.)