Sew Mama Sew placemats, dunzors!

A couple of nights ago when I was ready to finish up my Sew Mama Sew holiday sew-along placemats, I was excited for a quick finish because I was going to use the awesome cheater binding method that I used for my last set of placemats. I hadn’t cut out the backing fabric in the first week since I’m constantly worried about my projects coming out to the correct dimensions, even though it’s gotten a lot better since I got my quarter-inch foot.

So I went to get my yard of pretty solid blue… but there wasn’t much left of it! Where did it go? Then I saw the stack of binding strips that I had cut in the first week. Noooo!

After dithering for a bit, I pulled out four different fabrics that I liked but haven’t been able to figure out how to combine with other fabrics. I think they look cheerful together, so yay!

Since I already had my blue strips cut, I bound the placemats the normal way; I only have one under-the-table bin for my scraps, and it’s getting mighty full, so I figured I shouldn’t be lazy and put the strips aside for later. That meant that there was no quick finish for me, though — I sewed the binding down over the next couple of days.

I’m planning to give this as a Christmas present to my friend who’s going to grad school… I have a tough time thinking of things to give her, but everyone eats food on dishes that can then be placed on something like a mat, right? :}

Ooh, I feel like I can link this to Crazy Mom Quilts’ Finish It Up Friday because I was working on this throughout this month.