Patchwork Placemats

I have been wanting to make placemats for the kids for awhile now.  I wanted something eye spy-ish because my girls love looking for special little things.  I also wanted to use some of my Heather Ross goodies that I have been lucky enough to get my greedy little hands on.  

I was browsing through Etsy and looking at Japanese crafting books and saw a patchwork placemat with rounded edges and knew that is how I wanted to do mine.  Someone asked what I meant by zakka, which I referred to in my mug rug tutorial.  Zakka is a term that Japanese crafters use for handmade household type items like placemats, potholders, bags, etc.  The items often involve cute little critters, patchwork, and linen. Ayumi's blog, Pink Penguin, is a good example of this style of crafting. Here are a couple of my favorite Etsy stores for zakka fabrics and trims and Japanese crafting books. 

 So back to the placemat...I fussy cut all my little Heather Ross scraps and pieces and pieced them together.  I do love how all her fabric lines go so well together.

 For the back I used this sweet little David Walker print that I had leftover from making Juliana's Ice Cream Top.  I quilted it just by outlining each edge of the squares which you can see better here on the back.

Then I made a little reversible napkin and stamped some twill tape with Felicity's initial as this set is going to be hers.

I bound it in some red polka dot bias double fold binding, and...ta da!  A cute little patchwork placemat set.  I am also going to make one for Juliana and Josiah, and put them in their Easter baskets.  I have plans to do a little tutorial for these placemats as well that I hope to have up this weekend!  You can find the tutorial HERE.

In other news, I have re-opened my Etsy shop to try to finish clearing out the patterns I still have leftover.  I have some good ones including some by Pink Fig, Bari J, and Anna Maria Horner!  They are all 40% off, and you can use the coupon code "BLOGREADER" for an extra 5% off!  Thank you for your support and happy sewing!