Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Black and white

I dug into the scrap black and white drawer.  I had a plan and by golly it worked.  Sometimes my head is more than a hat rack.

I cut my blacks and whites about 3 1/4" x 4 3/4".  I staggered what I had all over and when I ran out I added some white on black versus the black on white.  I have this great pattern for 6 petal flowers in a few sizes so they were cut from a really lovely pink.
                                                                                      Once again the blanket stitch around the petals, but when I started to do the centres, I decided at the last minute to just keep going round in circles.  I went very slowly and I'm pretty darn happy with how it turned out.

I used a different "batting" for this one.  It's a fusible fleece called Duo Fuse.  It is highly recommended for bags that you want stability in.  I just wanted to try it because it is fused on both sides.  It worked.  I'm happy!

I had a fat quarter in my stash of a black on grey floral so I used that on the back.
I really like how the quilting stands out.  Not that it matters.....it's only a placemat,  but you could reverse it if you were so inclined.

TIP:  I tried something and maybe people have been doing this for years......I haven't but I like how it works.  I ironed my binding.  After it was sewn in place.  I just took the iron and pressed it back.  It is easy to turn over to the wrong side.....no effort at all.  I'll use my clips to keep it in place while it sew it by hand.  Yes, I still do it that way.  It's my evening work.









Black and white number 2 placemat was designed by Gimpy....otherwise known in our family as Cody....the one with the broken leg.  His girlfriend was over to visit for the day and I asked them for suggestions for placemats for Ronald McDonald house ~~ teen-agers.
This was his reply:
Personally, I like very light colors (Pink, Lime green, Baby blue etc) on a very dark backdrop such as black.  I believe the general conciseness according to skinny jean and shoe colour seems to very bright colors as well.  I would stripe the colors such as having black, then blue then black then pink then glack then green then black and repeat.  I think that would look pretty snazzy.  Emily has the same idea as I do so hopefully that helps!
So here is the C & E placemat.  I took their suggestions, raided the stash boxes and came up with
This is their black, then blue, then black, then pink, then black, then green and then it is all repeated.
I cut each fabric 2" wide and started it out on a 60* angle.  I started in the centre with the black and added each piece stitching it right to the batting.  

I did very simple quilting.  I marked the first line at 60* and then moved over every 2".  It gives it a "diamond" effect.
The backing is left-over fabric from the BOM I had on the blog in 2012.  There is still a bit left, so I'm trying to think of someway to incorporate it into a placemat.  The binding is the same green as the green stripe.  Still have some of that too.

For the heck of it, I threw one of the placemats on some fresh powder snow.  I tried to take a photo right away, it didn't turn out, I tried later in the day, it didn't turn out, but late at night with just the street light on and casting a shadow over the snow I got this.
A snow impression
of the first placemat on this page.


Announcement 

tis the season it seems

Cotton Mill Threadworks

Crowley Court
Dundas, Ontario
will be holding their spring open house this Friday, March 14th 
and Saturday, March 15th
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
If you can't make it, Anita does ship across Canada





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