Telopea

As a gift for our wonderful friends Haydn and Kylie, I couldn't imagine not making something that celebrates Australia's beautiful native plants and their unique colours and Emma Jean Jansen's terra australis range of fabrics have provided the perfect inspiration.

They can be purchased from plenty of fabric stores around Australia and internationally (find your nearest stockist here).

Haydn and Kylie love the Australian bush and environment and have a small, round dining table, so I've made them a set of four square placemats that will fit the table nicely and add some fresh, terra australis (aka, great 'south land') colour.

The waratah fabric from this line was easily my favourite from the range and I think this placemat, with it's fussy cut waratah (telopea) is my favourite (seen in this photo taken on a lichen encrusted bench seat at the Australian National Botanic Gardens).

I used my walking foot to quilt the majority of this placemat with the exception of a small amount of free-motion on the waratah flower (even after some practice, i'm still a stickler for my walking foot...i just can't seem to get the tidy finish i like with free-motion!!!....humph....more practice needed).

The inspiration for the design came from the Mondrian block designed by Jamie Moilanen (p. 116 of Modern Blocks compiled by Susanne Woods).

I also made one of my favourite blocks, based on strings and used my walking foot to quilt 1/4 inch lines that follow the strings. Of course after making the string block, i had some triangles made up of strings to also use, so these were used for the next placemat (RHS of photo below) to top and bottom my next favourite fabric from the terra australis line, the spinning gum print.

Again, i used my walking foot to quilt straight, 1/4 lines across the placemat.

For the fourth placemat in the set (RHS of photo above), i used a drunkards path template to put together a block that i've laid out to include some circles and some randomness based on Angela Pingel's layout of her Last Call block (p.100 of Modern Blocks compiled by Susanne Woods). Joined spirals are my go-to quilting for circles at the moment, which i drew onto the top before quilting using a water erasable marker pen. It does take a little messing about to get the spirals to join neatly, but i really do like the end result.

So, Haydn and Kylie, i do hope you'll like, enjoy and get plenty of use out of these placemats. It's been such a joy making something just for you! Thank you for being such great, faithful friends!

Linking up with:
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday
- Gemma for I Quilt Thursday at Pretty Bobbins and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social

Last but not least.....

And finally in the placemat series, and quite possibly my favourite.

I made this placemat using some scraps left over from a quilt i've made for my MIL (stay tuned....i'm in the process of binding this one so will add a post on it shortly). These are my favourite colours at the moment and i really like the straight 1/4 inch quilting i did with my walking foot.

The seams got a little bulky where the triangles meet, but it was the perfect way to use up the leftover string pieced triangles.

Best wishes in floral

Have you ever had some fabric that you just thought was too pretty to cut up into small pieces? Well, this was certainly the case for me. I purchased this fabric on sale and thought it was so pretty that one day i'd make it into something beautiful.

When i pulled it out of the stash earlier in the week, i wasn't really sure how to use it, but imagined it was the perfect combination of floral and pretty colours for a placemat of some sort for my aunt Fatima.

So, in order to keep the focus on the floral patterns, i haven't added too much patchwork. Just a little splash of aqua. Its very simple and in some ways i wish i'd tried more, but i do like the focus on the floral fabric.

In keeping with the floral theme, i've quilted running flowers (i can't remember the name of the pattern), which are a favourite pattern of mine at the moment.

Best wishes Fatima!

A placemat for Silvia

On my last visit to Portugal, my aunt Silvia, who lives in beautiful Viana do Castelo, gave me a gorgeous embroidered tablecloth. In traditional blue on white linen, embroidered cloth is famous in this region! It's so pretty....

So, i've made her a placemat. And while it isn't nearly as precious as the tablecloth she gave me, it is my favourite so far. I'm hoping it will bring her joy and happiness whenever she has breakie or a meal  on it out on her sunny Viana verandah. I can't wait to give it to her.

The pattern is based on the drunkards path design, but i loved the way Angela Pingel put hers together in Modern Blocks, so i've based the layout on this. This was my second attempt (after a bit of a disastrous first attempt), at sewing curves for the drunkards path, and i must say i'm pretty happy with it. I can highly recommend using templates!

I've done some spiral quilting using my walking foot in the hope of showing off those curves and it turned out well. I like the quilting on the back too (this Kaffe Fassett fabric is one of my favourites, so i like the back as much as the front!). The quilting is nice and close and other than the centre of each spiral, the stitches are ended off only underneath the binding, so it should be nice and durable after many washes.

 Here's hoping Silvia will love it.....

Portuguese placemats

Over the last few weeks i've been busy making placemats. I want to give something special to my family on our up coming trip to Portugal at the end of the month. They've been a great opportunity to try out a few new techniques and enjoy quilting something that isn't too large.

So each afternoon when my little boy is asleep, i head off to the dining room, where i create and whip up something fresh to give.

This was one of the first and i like the colours and design very much. I based the design on the 'Mondrian' block designed by Jamie Moilanen that i saw in Modern Blocks.

I chose to quilt some spirals on it and had some fun doing them....

The next one i made used some Alexander Henry fabric i had left over from a skirt i'd made my sister for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Making and sewing the uneven strips was harder than i imagined, but i based the layout on the beautiful red 'Two by Six' block designed by Natalie Hardin in Modern Blocks. I think the quilting pattern turned out quite nicely.