One Hour Friday

Wow what was I thinking last Friday when I decided to make 'One Hour Friday' a regular thing?! I was thinking all week about what to make tonight and I just couldn't come up with anything. Then this morning I thought, OK my middle boy wants a pillowcase made from some dinosaur flannel I have, and that will only take 15 minutes. That will do. But then I was a little disturbed as I thought that would be cheating you all. I mean come on, a simple flannel pillowcase? How boring is that?! Then I walked in the kitchen and it hit me. Placemats! Can you believe we don't actually own any placemats? I knew I could make a cool quilted placemat in under an hour.

So at 10.30pm I started, knowing I'd have to be done by 11.30 to give me enough time to blog about it. And here I am at 11.55 furiously writing to get this done under the deadline!

So did I do it? Well, yes and no! The placemat is finished, but it took me and hour and 20 minutes! Aaargh! But I do know how you could do it under an hour.
I made the top from scratch, an improv log cabin in reds, purples and greens. You could cut about a half hour off the time if you just used a spare block that you have laying around. We all have them! Just add a strip of fabric to each of two sides and you have a rectangle. Perfect! The other trick to making it in under an hour is no binding. I just layered the batting, backing and top (in that order), sewed around all 4 sides leaving an opening, then turned it through, sewed the opening closed, and quilted it. So easy!

I will be making more of these over the coming Fridays, each one a little different, so keep an eye out for my placemat collection. My kids will think we are so fancy using placemats!