When I heard that a good friend’s daughter was getting married in June in California, I expressed my regrets that I would not be able to attend the wedding but offered to make a set of four placemats for the newlyweds and asked what colors they would like me to use. I was somewhat surprised with one of their color choices. The red, green, and purple jewel tones were in my stash, but their other choice was the color brown which perplexed me for awhile. I have finally decided that I will use an espresso brown for the binding and an attractive brown print for the placemat backings. I finished sewing the placemat tops this past weekend using fabrics that were predominately red, purple, a medium green, and a lime green and then added the neutral color of grey to balance the arrangement of colors.

I used Elizabeth Hartman’s Color Blocks Placemats pattern, and I would really like to make another set of these placemats using a different color palette for my dining room table. I am leaning toward using a serpentine decorative stitch to quilt these placemats with a bright canary yellow thread. I learned how to use this stitch at Jacquie Gering’s Walking Foot class last month in Albuquerque (see my July ’17 OMG Finish post for more information about this fabulous class). Below is my practice piece using this decorative stitch.

My August ’17 One Monthly Goal is to quilt and bind these placemats. Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: August ’17 OMG.