This was the classic unintended weekend project. We had finally pulled out the Halloween box, and I was trying to figure out how to make an indoor-appropriate wreath for the door. (Here it is, by the way. Halloween decorations are re-defined by indoor-entry apartments)
While I was working on attaching our plastic spider collection, my five year-old assistant found a fat quarter of fabric I bought years ago and managed to cut it into four small pieces–‘Mom, I’m making placemats.’ While I initially mourned for my nice little square of fabric, it soon occurred to me that this transformation might be for the best. I had never been sure what to do with the fabric anyway outside of pinning it on the wall of our old kitchen in October.
Placemats didn’t seem like such a bad idea, actually. I had to supplement with some odd leftovers to get each jagged chunk of the fat quarter into placemat size. I’ve never done patchwork, so the corners aren’t perfect, and interfacing or some stabilizing interior fabric would probably have been a good idea–but wasn’t sure it would wash well (a necessity for placemats in my house). I added pockets, which was something I’d seen in a Lotta Jansdotter book and which appealed to the sensibilities of my collaborator.
The whole thing took longer than expected also–but hey, why not. It got me warmed up to finish the Halloween costumes. And the end result looks pretty cool with the sugar skulls I made years ago.