Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Christmas Placemats

Working with Christmas fabrics in the summer is such fun - and usually comes without the "must get this finished" stress of holiday sewing. A sweet young couple from my church is getting married this summer and of course that called for making some special placemats for the bridal shower :o)

In From the Cold Placemats & Coasters
Placemat and coaster gift set

This young couple are both avid coffee and tea drinkers so of course the In From the Cold steaming mugs patterns came right to my mind when I was thinking of what to make for them. Although I knew I wanted to make the mugs, I has no idea for the overall placemat design. After I got the four mugs made I did a simple Google image search for quilted placemats to find some inspiration. As soon as I came across the Lines in the Sand placemat pattern I knew I'd found the perfect setting!

How fun it was to pick just the right fabrics to pair up with the little mugs and cups. I used fabric bits from two of Kate Spain's Christmas lines: 12 Days of Christmas, and In From the Cold. So exciting to use some of these precious fabrics! They've lived in my stash for a couple years waiting for just the right project to pull them out. Although, I hardly made a dent in them. Here is a closer look at each of the four mats:

In From the Cold Placemats-steaming cup No. 1
Steaming cup No. 1

In From the Cold Placemats-steaming mug No. 1
Steaming mug No. 1

In From the Cold Placemats-steaming cup No. 2
Steaming cup No. 2
In From the Cold Placemats-steaming mug No. 2
Steaming mug No. 2

After the mats were stitched together came the daunting question of how to quilt them. I played around with some free motion quilting and did a bit of practice, but none of the designs I thought I could pull off seemed right for these placemats. I opted to go with one of my very favorite quilting patterns - grid quilting. I used the walking foot on my machine and did 1/2" grids. Looking at the mats I think it was a perfect choice :o)

In From the Cold Placemats-complete set
In From the Cold placemats and coasters

Once they were finished I did have a moment of thinking, "White placemats? What was I thinking??" but I think I'll let the bride and groom worry about that! Truthfully, I hope they just use them and not worry about the white. Wishing this young couple many cosy evenings (or mornings!) of toasty warm beverages :o)




5 comments:

  1. These are fantastic! I love that you made coasters to accompany them! They will cherish the thoughtful gift.

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  2. What a sweet gift! I'm sure they'll enjoy them.

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  3. Finally found my way to your blog, Debbie1 I absolutely adore these place mats and matching coasters. I'm sure the happy couple will love them. I love the cup fabrics you've chosen, and the steam adds the perfect finish to this pattern. I think white is the obvious background to enhance these prints, and if they collect a stain or two along the way, it just means they're being used and loved :)

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  4. I guess the In From the Cold steaming mugs pattern isn't available any longer. I get an error message. Oh, well.

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