Sunday: More Sewing Down the Stash

Placemats in Progress

Today, I started sewing the placemats I cut out, yesterday.

Some of you might recognize the fabric - it's the same as what I used to make my lunch bag.

Several years ago, one of my neighbors gave me several pieces this and other fabric.  Her husband worked in a garment factory, but the factory closed down.  I guess they were getting rid of partially sewn garments, because my neighbor gave me a huge bag full of the back halves of size 3X cotton blouses for my patchwork.  I've been dipping into this stash over the years and I still have about 50 pieces left!

Reverse Side of Placemat

I used one of the placemats I already have, as the template and cut around it.  Why am I making new placemats if I already have some?  The ones I currently have are plastic ones that my mother had bought; while they are serviceable, I thought it was time to replace them.  Besides, it was a good excuse to dip into the fabric stash!  I used the blue floral fabric for one side and a white floral fabric (also from the stash my neighbor gave me) for the reverse side.  The placemats will be reversible and either side can be used. 

I used a new roll of quilt batting I had bought on sale for the middle, between the two pieces of fabric.  The queen size quilt batting was bought on sale for about $5, and I used just a small portion of it.  The light green binding around the placemat is made from the leftovers from the green nightdress I sewed, earlier.  I had to patch some of them to make them long enough...but there was just enough for the six placemats I cut.  I would have made only four placemats, if I didn't have enough green fabric for the bindings for all six.  I machine stitched the bindings to the blue patterned fabric, but am handsewing them down on the other side.  It's a bit slow-going, but that's OK.  I will probably hand or machine quilt two diagonal lines, like a large X, once I've finished sewing the placemats. I am using thread I have in the stash.  The only cost for the six placemats is for the new batting and I estimate it cost less than $1 for the portion I used.

All the leftover pieces from cutting out the placemats have been neatly rolled up and stored with my other scrap pieces for another project, such as a quilt, later on.  And this is why I never run short of fabric for my scrap quilts!   

In between the sewing, I made pancakes for brunch and fried rice for dinner, made a quick stop at the garden center to buy a potted plant and visited a friend in the afternoon (the plant was my get-well gift to her), visited my mother's grave, watered some of the rose bushes with gray water I've collected while showering, and video chatted with my daughter.  It's back to work, tomorrow, but I've had a lovely relaxed day, today.

Today, I am grateful for:

- A seemingly unending fabric stash!
- Low cost placemats.
- A pleasant visit with my friend.
- The gift of a home-grown cucumber my friend gave to me
- Being able to spend another day sewing and relaxing

Anyone else having a fabric stash you are trying to sew down?