"Kveldsmat" (Supper)

I had seen these placemats on Anne-Grethe's blog, and was inspired to make something similar, using a mixture of linen and batiks - my favourite fabrics. So this weekend I have been busy making some placemats using this pattern,  "Kveldsmat" (which means "Supper") and the pattern is from the latest issue of "myQuilt" 1/2012. As you know, I don't actually speak Norwegian - so I had to study the diagrams very carefully.....

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.....last year when I stayed with Eva and Hanne in Norway, I bought this beautiful piece of turquoise linen from Hanne's shop, Lappedilla, and then I bought this selection of batiks when I went to the Festival of Quilts last summer. I thought this combination of fabrics would be perfect for this project...

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.....linen can be a bit tricky to cut as it can slide around on your cutting board, and Hanne had given me a top tip - to iron a soft fusible vilene to the wrong side of the linen, to make it easier to both cut and sew. I used some vilene H180 that I normally use for stitchery.....

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.....I quilted these placemats very simply, with a cross-hatch pattern on the linen and "stitch-in-the-ditch" around the batik pieces.....

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.....then these placemats were finished off with a couple of prarie points, and I used a striped batik for a single-fold binding. I have made 4 of these placemats, and have enough batiks and linen leftover to make a runner for a table too. Now woul these look good on your table when you're having coffee and cake?? Or afternoon tea?

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