Placemat problem?

I can't lie.  I'm developing a placemat problem.  I just made two more sets, I have fabric for a third, and I have firm plans to make yet another set once the fabric I want is out in stores. 

Fresh Wrapped placemats and runner by Canuck Quilter Designs

This is Fresh Wrapped.  That gorgeous apple print has been begging to come home with me for a long time, but I never had a purpose for it before.  I'd like to say I designed these placemats just for this fabric, but that would be stretching the truth.  I designed first, then I rooted through my stash to determine I really didn't have enough of any suitable print (my stash is mostly tone-on-tone colors), then I walked through the quilt store.  The apple print jumped right out and assured me there wouldn't be a better project to finally use it.

Fresh Wrapped placemats by Canuck Quilter Designs

As in most of my placemats, the piecing is simple and you can see a bit of the design even when the table is set.  Why go to tall the trouble of piecing something fancy if it's just going to be covered up by a plate?  These are strip pieced so they are a easy and quick to assemble

Not related, but don't you just love how the green apples and the sweet potato vine in my flower boxes play so well together and help the reds pop?  I tried to photograph this set on my dining room table, but the colors just wouldn't turn out right inside, so I stepped out onto the deck to use overcast daylight for lighting.  Much better.

Pattern available here.

I'm a little sorry I had to get my pattern covers ready and sent out to distributors before I managed to take these photos.  The cover looks crisp, but at the same time the picture looks like a digital image rather than a photo of actual placemats.  It is a photo though. I used blue painter's tape on a blank wall to mark a box in the same proportions as the space on the pattern cover, so I could lay everything out to fill the cover space, then I taped the placemats and runner to the wall with green 3M painter's tape for hard-to-stick surfaces.

Photo setup for Fresh Wrapped placemats

I did the same thing for my new Flipped table set, but I'll just skip straight to the pretty styled pictures.

Flipped placemat and runner

All the angles in these Flipped placemats are made with the stitch-and-flip technique, so there are no triangles or odd shapes to cut, or cut bias edges to worry about.  They stitch up super quickly, and as you can see the plate doesn't hide the zig-zag design.  The runner is made with bonus HST units created while making the placemats.

Flipped placemats and runner by Canuck Quilter Designs

Next up in the placemat queue, I'm making a Halloween version of Fresh Wrapped.  I'd show you the fabric pull,  but it's in the dryer as I type.  I like to prewash my placemat fabrics, because I know the placemats will end up in the wash, and I like to minimize shrinking-induced wonkiness in the washed placemats.  Are you a pre-washer?  Always or just for certain projects?

As I said earlier, there are also plans for a fourth set.  That one will be yet another version of my Geese Across the Table pattern, in Northcott's Cafe Culture collection arriving in stores soon.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know people who are!   Here's an EQ8 peek at what the coffee-lover version will look like.

Mockup of Geese Across the Table in Cafe Culture

So, back to my placemat "problem". They're a quick way to get a "finish fix", to get that lovely feeling of finishing a project.  They are pretty but practical. They don't take as much room to store as a throw or bed quilt.  They're a great gift option for any occasion.  So, maybe it's not a problem after all!