hers and hers placemats

I was inspired to make patchwork placemats when I saw some beautiful ones on While She Naps earlier this month. I thought it would be a great way to use up some of the scraps of fabric we have. I asked Jennie very sweetly if I could have the leftover bits from her recent quilts and she replied very sweetly that of course I could. (We are generally very sweet with one another unless low blood sugar or hormonal volatility is involved. We never have trouble with sibling rivalry—it's the chemicals that get us.)

I've never really done much piecing but I have to say this was fun. Sewing up all the little bits together and puzzling out the best way for them to fit together definitely qualified as prime, top-choice, Grade A fun for the anal-retentive crafter. I made a red one for Jennie and a blue one for me. It would probably be more useful to have a set of four, but there's only so much fun a girl can handle.



On the reverse side I used a panel of the same linen that our curtains are made of, which seems a little more grown-up if less cheerful. I bordered both sides in brown for a bit of unity.

Jennie says she's afraid to eat on them for fear of getting them dirty. I told her that they are, hypothetically, washable. I am even moderately sure that they will come out of the dryer in one piece and looking just the same as they did when they went in. Or maybe my sewing will all come to bits--if so, I can always cut up the scraps into even smaller pieces, and I bet putting them back together again will be even more fun.