My co-worker Gigi is moving into a new house with her new beau, and was excitedly describing her "country kitchen" theme to me. She mentioned red and gingham, then oh-so-nonchalantly asked if I could make her some placemats. Of course! I verified the color of red (true red, not blue or orange-toned), made sure she wanted country, and then she left the rest up to me. I scoured the internet for quilted placemats, and let me tell you what - there aren't many! I finally settled on this one , a pinwheel star block with gingham borders on the side. Gigi requested that the placemats be smaller than the usual 14 inch by 18 inch size, so I downsized them to 12 inch by 14 inch.
The solid red is "Rich Red" by Kona, the ginghams are from Joanns, and the grey with small red flower is from one of Bonnie and Camille's fabric lines - "Ruby" maybe? I added ric rac to the border to push the "cute country" theme over the edge, and I stitched in the ditch so that the quilting lines weren't on the red fabric and glaringly obvious. I made eight placemats, and they took about two weeks to make. I pre-washed all the red fabric so it wouldn't bleed later, but when I washed the finished placemats I still got pink Color Catchers!
Gigi's beau surprised her with flowers, and she posted a picture to Facebook. I of course stole her picture, because it shows the placemats in use! They turned out to be the perfect size for her table.
Gigi loves how they turned out, and I must admit that I am pleased as punch myself. They do make a great housewarming gift. I showed them to Memaw before I gave them to Gigi, and she requested some too! I ordered some seafoam gingham, and started cutting blocks last night. Plus, as an added bonus, I had made a sample block for the placemats, but it was too big (14 inches instead of 12 inches). I put that block aside, and now I've made six blocks in different solids to use in a baby quilt. The pinwheel star block is the gift that keeps on giving!
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