What do you usually have on your table? If you normally have a centerpiece, you may want to leave the center plain as it will be covered. If not, I vote for the block with the square border,

QuiltE - I'll try to write up a good explanation for you on how I made the fabric. It's actually a very fun process, though it does take a good bit of time. I'll post it in a bit. Multitasking at the moment. :D

PaperPrincess, Our tablescape tends to change a lot. It varies by time of day, number of diners, occasions, etc. Though I don't tend to use centerpieces, you are right, there is not much use in making the center fancy if it will be covered up.

.... consider whether the fancy part will take away from the work you do to make the fabric? Can you get fabric that matches/coordinates well enough to make it work? Or what about doing a motif in the centre in the same way as you are doing the border?

No rush on the how to ... and don't worry, I can't see myself doing this, in a million years! I'm just totally curious on the whole concept!

i like the quilt block center, maybe something botanical rather than a star.

Okay, for you QuiltE, since I remember how much you enjoy maple leaves! :-D Curiosity has many rewards!

This is how I "make" fabric using things I find in our garden:
I pick & snip a lot of goodies that look like they would press flat nicely.
Then I press my samples flat in wax paper sandwiches between thick sections of phone book pages. Then I weight them and then wait on them. LOL After a month or more, you have very nice pressed leaves and flowers.
When the time feels right, I lay all the flat flora across our huge kitchen table. Then little by little I build arrangements on white foam core boards. I use very small bits of rolled scotch tape to hold them in place, since some items will need to be moved around and even reused.
When I'm happy with the arrangement, I carry it carefully to the scanner, flip it over with trepidation and scan it.

I did a lot, and I do meana lot, of testing on various means of printing images on fabric. I tried every homemade idea, many kinds of cotton and silks and a few brands of commercial products. I like EQ Printables the best when sharp photo quality matters. For these I also use archive quality pigment based inks, so they will really last and not fade. And I use the really huge EQ 13"x19" fabric sheets.
It all works really well.
Next I would like to try it photographing unsquished arrangements. ;)

Nancy, do you mean like an applique motif?

hey, I'm Canadian ... gotta love those maple leaves!
WOW ... so you do this on a regular printer? and kind of the same process as what people print labels (except of course, a LOT more work!!!) ... WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

I can just imagine the old heart a fluttering as you turn over your foam core each time!

As a hint ... you don't have to "roll" the scotch tape ... you can get the double sided scotch tape, that's like post-it notes, so easy to remove and move around. You can also get the same stuff in "dots".

I like the quilt block in the center. Very pretty.

I like the quilt block in the center. Very pretty.