Zakka 2.0 - Diamond Patchwork Placemat

Here we are at Week Five in the Zakka 2.0 Sew Along!  This week, the Diamond Patchwork Placemat, from the book Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi.  I knew all along that I would be making four placemats and not just one, and boy am I glad that I did, they turned out so cute and really didn't take that long to make all four.

I used fabric from my stash with the exception of the 100% linen, which I bought from JoAnn's Fabrics.  I pre-washed the linen because I know that it tends to shrink a lot in the wash, but washed nothing else.  Hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt me one day.  The backing and binding is a Darlene Zimmerman 30's reproduction print that I have been holding on to for quite some time, I felt the scale and coloring was perfect for these placemats, especially since the backing wraps around to the front to create the binding.  I like that method, so quick and easy!

For some strange reason I have an insanely huge stash of kitchen and food prints.  I started pulling them for this project and after digging just a short time pulled out 25 prints.  I know I have more than that, that is just what I pulled out from light digging!  In the end I narrowed it down to just fruit, vegetable and Kawaii prints like the picnic and sushi themed ones.  I even used two of my HOARDED Spoonflower sample prints and cut them up!  It was the right decision, I just love them mixed in!

Back view of the place mats.

I didn't change much from the printed directions, just three little things.  First, I did not paper piece the diamond patchwork panels on either side, but rather just pieced them normally.  I can see why she recommended paper piecing, especially with the shiftiness of linen, but otherwise it worked out just fine.  Second, I used a pretty little lace on the side of my panels instead of the ric rac the author called for.  I wanted to use from my stash and this was the only suitable thing I had enough yardage of.  I rather like the look of lace, linen and a bunch of silly Kawaii prints.  Lastly, I did not spray baste as she suggested.  I didn't have any, so I just pinned, pinned, pinned!  You can obviously see that the front and back are not glued together simply by noticing the MILLION wrinkles all over.  Honestly the pictures make it look worse than it is, but they are there.

I quilted exactly as she suggested and I really like it, I used the binding directions that was suggested also.  I mentioned earlier, this is such a great method for this project.  In the detail shots below you can see a better example of my mitered corners, good and bad, which I machine stitched instead of stitching by hand.  They aren't perfect, but heck, they won't be perfect once food and drink gets spilled on them either!

Closing with a few detail shots of my favorite fussy cut blocks.  Love these little vegetable and fruit people, especially broccoli guy!  These are going to look so nice on my dining room table.

Not a good mitered corner.

Details of the Sew Along:
Book:  Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi
Sew Along: Hosted by LRstitched and A Quilter's Table
Project: Polka Dot Cafe Apron
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/patchworkplease/

Good mitered corner!