Welcome from Beautiful Arizona.

I doubt any of us began with a "masterpiece" so don't give up on quilting. It is a never ending learning process and that is one of the beauties of it - always learning. I am an artist, painting mostly in oils and I have yet to paint my "masterpiece" there either, but I keep at it. LOL

Must note that your fabric choices are wonderful. See, you have a talent for quilting that you may not have thought of - putting fabrics together for wonderful quilts (quilting.)

welcome from Illinois

thanks all for such a warm welcome and great advise and encouragement!

I like what I see. Sometimes when I am ready to give up on a project I just have to set it aside for a while (a few days-maybe weeks) and when I go back to it it somehow comes together like nothing was ever wrong. It will come.

One of the secrets to a good looking binding is trimming just a sliver of fabric from the edges, using a strajght ruler all along one side of the placemat at once, to get rid of bumps. threads and dips. This makes the sewing much easier!
Then pin the binding edge exactly on top of the placemat edge. When you sew, try to keep the width of the seam even.
Then when you turn it, the binding will fit around the edge underneath it surprisingly nicely. Good luck! JP

Welcome from Indiana!

Ditto and Patience!