Here is a large square mat I made for the center of my table. I made this as a practice piece to get back into sewing again after I bought myself a sewing machine. When my mom asked that I make her placemats for her new home. I knew I better practice before I hacked away at the fabric she spent a bunch of money on!!

This is my first project in years!! I started sewing when I was 7 and stopped around age 12. Now at 26 I am at it again!

Please ignore my uneven outside edges :oops:

I sure wish you could really see the fabric. It is so pretty!! The stripes have fine gold stripes in it, and the flower fabric has some gold too. It makes the fabric so pretty with the little touch of sparkle! The flower box has now been replace with a dark brown leaf shaped candle holder that holds three flameless pillar candles that I got from my mom. The candle holder and candles look lovely on it. I guess I should have taken a picture of that!!! :D

Looks good. You're well on your way to making those placemats and then quilts!!!

Thank you!! I did this project a few months ago. I have finished the placemats and they turned out SO much better than this mat, thank god! My mom can proudly use the placemats. I should have taken a picture of them before I gave them to her! I forgot. I can always take a picture when I go to her house. They have a mitered border, which I had never done before. Let me tell you, I think I called those placemats every name in the book until I finally got the hang of it. I just wanted those points to be perfect!!

Next stop for me is dotee doll swap!! That should be fun!!

You did a wonderful job!

Very nice Leona!! I bet your mom just loves them! :D

Good job, and thanks for sharing!
You must have been a very good student at 12 to be able to pick it up years later and even think to do mitered corners!
It is interesting how the activities we learned in those pre-adolescent days seem to be an indicator of what we will accomplish in later years.

Great Job ! You sound Like me when I finish a project, I get so excited I pass them on and then think" I should have taken a pic !" LOL :lol:
Sharon

Nice job!

Very Pretty! You're up and running now!

My Great-Grandmother taught me how to sew on her old Viking sewing machine. I loved it!! I was always sewing away on that machine. I inherited that machine when she passed away and even though it no longer works, and and sadly not fixable I still have it!!

I suppose I was able to pick it fairly easily again because I am pretty crafty in nature. My poor mom had to pick up many messes from my craftiness!! She still teases me about the little paper bits everywhere, apparently I loved scissor and paper!!! It is a family thing on both sides!! My great-grandma sewed and crocheted. My grandma is a quilter and artist, it is sad that she lives so far away or I would have a teacher/helper!! My grandpa was an engineer and was a great technical drawer. My Aunt is a sewer, and an AMAZING painter/artist. My mom is a crocheter and an amazing drawer. My dad was a draftsman, so he was a technical drawer. Therefore it only makes since that I sew, crochet, and I am also pretty good at drawing (mostly technical).