Monday, August 1, 2011

finished placemats (well, almost)

***These are now entirely finished - check it out here!***

warning: this is a picture loaded post, so may take a while to load up. but it's worth it. read on...

since seeing these placemats on modabakeshop.com, i knew i wanted to make them. as it happened, i also had to have a couple of charm packs of Sweetwater's Hometown fabric as soon as it was available, so i used them to make my placemats.

side note: the hubby and i are planning on buying our own home this autumn, and i'm so looking forward to decorating it however i like! i knew i wanted fun colours for the dining area that will semi-work with my citrus kitchen. the hometown fabric works perfectly! these placemats will set the colour standard for the rest of the dining area. :D

okay, back on track: instead of adding a personalised applique to the center panel of the placemats, i wanted to be able to use them when we have guests over for meals. i went with a more neutral idea, yet a unique talking point. i decided to design my own embroidery for the center panel: the word 'eat' in several different languages. don't they all look great?! (i haven't added binding yet since i ran out of matching fabric.)


of course english made it into the line-up:

and german, because i'm an intermediate german speaker, and the hubby's heritage is part german.

swedish: (i had to find a word with an umlaut! [the two dots above the first -a-.] also i have a certain affinity for sweden and swedes...)

turkish, because it looks so good.

spanish. dunno why. i guess because the hubs wanted it?

and french. i usually hate hearing french. it really doesn't sound very romantic to me. sorry! don't mean to offend... it just rubs me up the wrong way! but i had to have it, again for the hubby.

i thought i'd take some close-up pictures because they look so yummy!

don't you just wanna make these for yourself? (keep reading!)

this is really my favourite word, visually. it looks so balanced somehow.

i used a meandering quilting stitch to quilt these lovely placemats. i love the look right after they're washed, but since i don't have the binding on yet, they remain crisply quilted. also, i forgot to take a picture of this, but i used grey thread on the top and red underneath. i thought red on top might overpower some of the fabrics, so i used grey. but i wanted red on the bottom to stand out on the neutral fabric, and it looks awesome. just believe me.

this is my favourite square of them all... not only can i not stop looking through all the cities, but it has two special ones to me: Boise, my current city, and Exeter, where i used to live. Exeter, UK that is (i'm sure there is an Exeter, USA somewhere...)

so there it is. i'm excited to use my placemats when they are finally complete with binding etc, and we're in our own house doing some entertaining...

i decided to let anyone download my patterns, for now. i'm hoping to make some more embroidery pieces, and perhaps sell them. but right now, you can have my 'eat' words! just click on the picture below, and it will pop up in a different window/tab where you can right click and save. then just print the file as a full page photo, and you should be set!

first set:



second set:
please let me know if you decide to use these and send me a photo if you make something with them. i would love to see your work!

3 comments:

Tiffany said...

Great idea - might have to steal this because I have a charm pack waiting for a project :)

Why did you conjugate "manger" to "mangez" tho and left the others in the infinitive? Either way, it looks pretty :)

Sara said...

Your designs in different languages are so unique and FUN!! Saw you over at splitstitch and had to check out your place mats for myself---:)

If you like giveaways. as well...he.he

Come check mine out over at http://joyineverythingthruhim.blogspot.com/2011/07/celebrating-yes-still-and-who-wouldnt.html

Gina said...

What a lovely project! So glad to check out your stuff! My husband and I got a house two years ago. I know just how you're feeling! I must have made boxes of things in advance for the opportunity to furnish our own house exactly like I wanted! Good luck with everything and enjoy! Such a great time. :)