December's Across The Pond Project

Just in the nick of time...

I've finished my December project

for the Across the Pond Sew Along!

Our lovely Amanda, The Patchsmith,

has outdone herself this month,

with TWO versions of a clever and useful placemat.

One features whimsical appliqued trees...

And here is the paper-pieced style!

I happen to love the paper-piecing process,

so I chose to make that version of Amanda's pattern.

This is what mine looks like!

 If you don't mind a bit of detail...

and a lot of photos...I'll walk you through my design process.

Fabric selection is almost always the best part for me!

I started with some fat-eighths from my Cherry Christmas bundle,

by Aneela Hoey for Moda,

and I still have plenty left for other projects.

{Whew! I can continue to hoard some of it!}

I mixed in a couple of other prints, like some Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry and Glace by 3 Sisters for Moda. 

{I love the celery greens with tiny bits of red and brown.}

I had more fun creating the snow-topped trees,

especially because we have some REAL snow outside!

{The little birdies on the trees are too sweet!  Oops...some of them are upside-down!}

Once the trees were stitched and pieced to the background...

it was simple to finish up the top with patched borders.

{I skipped the napkin ring, because I may want to use

mine as a wall hanging sometimes.}

My background was an ivory linen.

Maybe I could have selected a sharper contrast, but I like it very much.

The linen is luscious for quilting, especially once I got it fused

to my dear friend, Pellon 987F fusible fleece!

{The overlapping straight lines in the corner are my favorite part of the stitching.}

For the borders, I made some crisscrosses, and the quilting was done!

I used my machine-binding tutorial,

and my edges came out perfect in no time!

This project is very versatile and would make an adorable table topper...

as well as a useful placemat.

I'm going to enjoy it all winter long!

Susie, Amanda, and I welcome you to jump in 

and join the Across the Pond Sew Along,

at any time!

{Jump in to the Sew Along, that is...NOT the Pond!}

Please feel free to share photos in our Flickr group!

Happy New Year, friends!