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Here’s the finished product. I had the place mats done quite a while ago but have had lots going on. We’ve made lots of progress on the house in the last two weeks, I’ve started another quilt, and the weather has been keeping us outside. Life is feeling like a pair of tight pants for me right now—I wish I had some more breathing room. And having the house progress makes my longing to live there increase. We’re gearing up for more family coming here, which will mean joy and frustration. Joy to see them but less personal space and less control over my surroundings and daily routine. I will be praying for peace for the weeks to come. Actually, I am currently praying for it.

I was able to visit with a most favorite friend and that was wonderfully refreshing. I have another joy coming—another dear friend is due in a few days and her body is working the baby out. I am so excited to see her next baby’s sweet face. I hope deeply that the delivery goes well and that she will be able to bond immediately with this son. This also means I have another project to start. What I have in my head looks great; we’ll see about the finished product.

So the plans for today are many but simple. Cleaning, cooking, loving, creating. I do so enjoy the jobs that I have and I thrive on days when the kitchen I have available becomes my own. Today it will be all my own. 

So here are the mats. The plates are my mom’s. I am looking forward to using these in our own house next spring. I will refrain myself from using the mats until then. But the napkins (which I also made and hand monogramed with a lower-case “h,” though after this picture was taken) will be our everyday napkins. Sigh. Someday we will live and function independently in our own space again. But for now I am thankful, endlessly thankful, for the opportunity to be able to make our house a dream. On to the day that awaits me.

The kitchen has been the last big demo project that we’ve finished. I don’t have pictures of the current look we have but here is where we’ve come from. It’s quite amazing. We still have to finish ripping the bits of ceiling left around the cabinets on the west wall and tear out the flooring. There’s wood flor underneath several layers of linoleum—old and new. But once the flooring is out of the kitchen and the master bedroom, there won’t be too much left to tear out, at least not for us; my dad has things to tear out as he frames and puts in the new windows. Things are progressing and it feels good. 

I’ve been sewing on six place mats for the last several weeks. The bases were cut the day I cut the backing for my very first quilt, which I fondly refer to as the sunshine quilt. The place mats have the same lemon material, Juicy, I discovered is the name of the design. Appropriate.

The place mats consist of lemon rectangles on one side and a nice solid goldenrod cotton on the other side. They were hemmed separately. I then cut out little circles from the material and discovered the wonder of iron-on backing; it’s like double-sided tape for seamstresses. I ironed it to the back of the circles and then cut off the excess. Once that was finished, I ironed the circles to the gold side of the mats. So cute.

Currently I am in the final stages of putting a decorative stitch from my mom’s machine around the outside of the mats. They are all sewn together and I have only two that need the pretty stitching. They are turning out lovely. But looking back, I think I would have done things a little differently; maybe just sewn a basting stitch to hem them so it could be removed after sewing the two sides together. I also would have finished it with a more simplistic hand stitch instead of something so decorative. But I have learned so much in the process that I am thankful for the way things turned out. And I still think the mats are adorable, especially for a spring breakfast with my yellow teapot. I do want my sewing to eventually have a certain look to it—what every artist truly wants in their pieces. So I will use these place mats as a springboard and someday I will have a look to my sewn projects.