I have been doing a bit of teasing on social media lately. If you follow our Facebook page or my Instagram, you may have seen snippets of some overly zealous paper piecing I have been working on. The good news is the project is finished and I am finally ready to share!
A few months ago, I was asked to work on a project featuring Cotton Couture Solids for Michael Miller Fabrics. It was to showcase a color story from this beautiful line. They sent me a few ideas on what they were looking for, along with the oh-so-cool Color Card Swatch Book.
Just flipping through the swatch cards put me over the moon with happiness. The colors are amazing and the fabric feels buttery soft and light. But to pick a color palette? Oh, my, that was a tough decision. There were so many to choose from. Being the creature of habit that I am, I of course, eventually chose their red collection in all it’s glory.
Somewhere, in bouncing ideas around, I got it in my head that I wanted to do some over-the-top paper piecing. Ok, a quilt would be out of the question – but what about placemats? That would be manageable! So I cruised Google Images, looking for a spark of inspiration. I found an unusual, graphic rug that had an interesting design element to it.

I pulled out my sketchpad – and so it began. Before I knew it, I was happily sewing multiple strips together of various tints, shades, shapes and widths with my glorious, red family of solids – which made me very happy!
It got a bit addictive. Each strip was an opportunity to try something different! Gray and white helped separate the busyness, so that you could really appreciate each color combination.
After a few Netflix episodes and some afternoons of stitching, I combined the strips into a set of two placemats, which you see here. Each is unique and different, yet they are seem to play well together. Happy little things, aren’t they?
I quickly mailed them off to Michael Miller Fabrics for a photo shoot for last week’s Quilt Market. Kudos to their photographer. Isn’t the table setting wonderful?
My little placemats really dress up nicely, don’t they? I am so HAPPY about how they turned out!
Are you picking up on the word “happy” being used quite often in this post? Just remember that thought, because on Friday, my “happiness” theme will all make sense. I will be sharing with you a second set of placemats made from yummy shades of green, along with a fun video showing the process of making them.
And there’s more! I’ll share a free downloadable pattern of the project for you to make your own set of paper pieced placemats!
I would love to hear what makes you happy when sewing. Leave a comment if you would like to share some happiness.
See you Friday,
Reblogged this on .
LikeLike
Your placemats are absolutely lovely. I, like you, can lose myself in the beauty and wonder of fabric and the bliss of creating something wonderful. My two favorite things are sewing and playing in the garden. Thank you for sharing your happy place with us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome project!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are beautiful! I can’t wait to make them. I agree with you about the table setting, especially the perfectly colored flowers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
what is so wonderful is the colors you have used for those placemats!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like you need another blog to read?? Love her paper pieced place mats..SEE HOW WE SEW is Laura Nownes & Pati that wrote 2day’s.. Wooden Gate Shop is in Danville w/new owner a year ago & she’s doing a great job..~Kt
LikeLike
Can’t wait to try the place mats (GREAT SIZE for a project!) Can’t wait 2C the greens..
~Kate
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your photos are very different colors than the photo shoot ones. Did they digitally tweak your colors?
LikeLike
Good question – yes, they came out lighter in the professional photos. I am imagining it is from the sunlight source. The photos that I shot are much truer to color to the actual fabric. It is a really saturated color palette. Thanks for asking!
LikeLike
Very pretty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! These look wonderful. Using the red collection really showed how these played well together for someone like me (still challenged by color and value).
LikeLiked by 1 person