In case you thought I had given up sewing for furniture refinishing, I have not. And here’s a post with my latest sewing project–Placemats and a Table Runner.

But first, lets talk about the nine-year-old!

Is nine years old the perfect age? It is if you are lucky enough to have parents and siblings and grandparents that love you and you have all the friends and can’t wait to get back to school.

And she is usually excited about every moment every day. The enthusiasm. She just found out that I had a website. And in capital letters “GRANDMA YOU HAVE A WEBSITE.” Because she saw it on her mom’s phone or laptop or tablet.

And she is on there!

I am so happy to share in all that joy!

This girl bounded into the kitchen on her birthday and said I AM NINE!

She also jumped into her mothers shower to say the same sentiment and went online to task all her friends as to why they didn’t tell her happy birthday.

This. Girl. Will. Make. A. Mark. On. Our. World.

And I’m happy to say that I was able to hold a birthday party for her.

Okay. So now on to the placemats and table runner.

I spent hours and days and weeks and maybe months refinishing this table so I needed to protect it. (I am known to exaggerate–it may not have been months although it did feel like it!)

So placemats and a table runner were necessary before this dinner party.

I’m not going into a lot of details as to how I made them. This is mostly about how I calculated the size of each one.

The table is 42″ x 80″ fully open and 42″ x 60″ without the leaf. I wanted the table runner to reach the entire length-well maybe a little short so the ends could be used as placemats. Then when the table was closed, it would drape nicely over the sides.

I needed to seat 8 people. I quickly ran some numbers in my head to come up with a size to make all the new linens. Based on the measurements I went with six 12” x 16″ placemats and one 12″ x 78″ table runner.

I used two coordinating fabrics–one for front and back–that matched the paint in the dining room and kitchen. With batting in between the layers.

I used a 1/4″ seam allowance so the unfinished size for the placemats was 12 1/2″ x 16 1/2″. The fabric for the table runner was 12 1/2″ by 78 1/2″. I also did some quilting to keep the batting in place after I had stitched it together.

I pinned A LOT so the batting wouldn’t move as I stitched.

Here’s the placemat before I pressed it.

I couldn’t press right away because someone needed her beauty sleep while I was sewing. (The iron was not powered on!)

The linens turned out great. As did the dinner party!

Bonus–they are reversible plus they also look quite nice on the kitchen table!

Next up in my sewing world will be matching potholders. But. First I’ve got to get back to refinishing that dresser!