Bigger and Better Quilted Placemats

A couple of days ago, I mentioned some these placemats that I'd been working on. Well, they're all now bound (with my favourite black and white stripe fabric which I purchased at Spotlight a few years ago) finished and all ready to use at dinnertime starting tonight.





I seem to have taken a ridiculous amount of photos of these table mats! The light was so bad this afternoon, so these pictures were taken out on the pool deck.





These mats were a fun scrappy improv project full of colour. After using the same placemats for the past few years, it was time for some new, bigger and better ones.

These new and improved colourful ones measure 12" x 18" and are all completely unique.






And guess what?!?! I used old tea towels as the backing. My tea towel drawer is crazy over-full so I chose some of the older ones but which are made from good quality cotton (which you can tell it's good after years of washing).




I think this has been a great way to use up teeny scraps and strips of fabric plus some old tea towels, which were most likely destined for the bin.

Also I'm super pleased that I managed to finish these during my month dedicated to conquering quilty improv fears. Yay!

Linking Up With:
Happy Needle and Thread Thursday
Midweek Makers 
Wednesday Wait Loss

32 comments

  1. I love these!! Perfect backing for these lovely, lovely placemats! Enjoy :)!

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    1. Thank you so much. They were a lot of fun to make. I've not put away the scrap tub so that I'm not distracted by them.

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  2. Anorina: Very pretty and useful.

    Catherine

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    1. Thanks Catherine. They got their first use last night.

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  3. you always manage to make scrappy look so stylish and pretty and I love the idea of tea towels for the backing.... you found such fun ones to use...
    Hugz

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    1. Thanks Fiona. It's crazy that I have a tonne of fabric, but am always drawn to playing with the scraps. I was in Kmart yesterday and saw some gorgeous new floral print tea-towels there (which I of course had to buy).

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  4. Pretty and practical....got to be happy with that.

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  5. That's such a great idea using teatowels on the back. I cleaned up my linen cupboard on the weekend and have about 50 tea towels. Great work completed...

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    1. Oh wow, 50 tea towels that would make a lot of great placemats.
      I keep mine in a kitchen drawer so the number I can have is limited by how many I can squeeze in there (and still manage to close the drawer).

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  6. They really are lovely and your idea of using tea towels for the backing is very practical. I have heaps of old tea towels I use to polish the kitchen sink and mop up but I still have waaaay too many.

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    1. I think pretty tea towels make the yucky job of tidying up the kitchen so much nicer, don't you? But then if they're too pretty, we don't want to get them too dirty... It's a no win!

      I still have a lot of old ones that weren't suitable for a backing. I might just give them to hubby to use in the garage/shed.

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  7. Love those bright Scrappy Placemats and what a great idea using the teatowels as backing. Can even use then turned over ....

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    1. That's a great idea. If it's a messy meal (spaghetti etc), I should get the kids to use the back-side up!

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  8. Adaptive Upcyling of Tea Towels and a Burst of Color while being useful. You hit the mighty trifecta, Anorina!!! Kudos to you :-)

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment. I love your description! Adaptive Upcycling of Tea Towels - how perfect :)

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  9. Thanks for sharing.....love the idea of using scraps and they turned out beautiful....also using tea towels for the backs...AWESOME !!!

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    1. Thanks Libby. These were a lot of fun to make. I like any excuse to play around with the fabrics in my scrap tub ;)

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  10. I love these.
    absolutely brilliant idea to put the collector towels (that have memories too)
    as the backing. Very sweet binding

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    1. Hi Rosemary, I hope you're well.
      Oh I do love collector towels, though personally only have a few. We seem to buy fridge magnets when we go places, rather than tea-towels.
      There are some great quilts (on Pinterest) made from these types of tea towels. It'd certainly be a great memory quilt.

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  11. I always love when the backs are as much fun as the front, well done!

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  12. SEW super scrappy!! These are sure to brighten up your table (even on the dreariest of days.)

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  13. The place mats themselves look great, but i also love the use off tea towels as the backing. Thanks for sharing that great idea.

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  14. Great photos! Your placemats are a beautiful way to learn something new. The tea towels on the back are the tops! Love the striped binding, binding them all together.

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  15. I am going on a 3 day retreat starting in the morning. I was looking around for a leader/ender project. I, too, have some tea towels (mine are plain) and we have no placemats so this idea is timely and perfect. Thanks for the idea.

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  16. Hi Anorina, these mats are absolutely adorable. I have a quilted bedsheet which I love but never really came across quilted table mats. These are super cute.
    Steph
    https://www.theguardianonline.com

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  17. Placemats are so fun to make and these are awesome! Great idea for the tea towels on the back!

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  18. They are quite delightful, and what a perfect solution for the backings!

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  19. I can see why you've fallen for that awesome striped binding fabric! It's sheer perfection. Love these placemats. Totally worthy of lots of photos! Thanks for linking up to Wednesday Wait Loss.

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  20. Fantastic finishes. Love that you used the tea towels for backs.

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