And Even More Placemats

Three more placemats; another road trip. Definitely a theme for this summer, but it’s all good. I’ve been slowly using up all those Bear Paws I made back in 2020. I figure I have enough blocks to make 10 (more or less) additional placemats, so there will be more of this kind of post. 

I feel good making these blocks useful and gifting them with a purpose (Meals on Wheels). Sometimes I worry about whether the seniors receiving them will like them. I picture them as people like my grandparents or parents— from a different era than me. But with a major birthday milestone last week, I suddenly realized that I’m the same age as some, if not many, of the recipients. I may need to try to focus my designs to appeal more to my generation. I’ll keep working with what I have for now— and then it may be time to change things up a bit.

Anyway, here are this month’s placemats-fronts and backs-made with scraps (multi-colored when possible). They are all about 14 by 18 inches, sewn on my Featherweight and quilted on my Singer 115 treadle. 

I did the hand sewing on the bindings while on a week’s vacation Up North in Michigan (at the tip of the pointer finger of the Mitten State).

So how about a few vacation photos? We stayed in a cottage on Lake Huron and did our usual bike rides and hikes along the lake, and visits to a waterfall, an orchard and lighthouses—all spectacular, but the real specialty of this vacation was the sky.

Northern Lights (for only a few minutes, but thrilling)

Gorgeous sunsets (yes, you can see sunsets on the water on the sunrise coast if you look for them)

Full moon (Harvest Moon) rising, and a partial lunar eclipse (which I couldn’t capture on my phone)

Thick fog followed by a fogbow when the sun broke through. I had never seen (or heard of) one, so I had to Google it.

We also had blue sky and a bit of a stormy one.

No fabric this trip, but lots of inspiration. I did take some photos of quilts in the lighthouses. There were some sewing machines, too.

I’m linking up with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant today and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap on Sunday. 

Now I have to hurry and make more placemats because we have another little getaway coming up, and I’ll need another take-along binding project. 

I hope you’ve had a good quilting month, with projects big or small.