Black/White and Brown Place Mats

I managed to complete 8 black and white scrappy place mats and then put chocolate brown sashing around the blocks. I decided to envelope them and so I needed to make the outer sashing a bit wider to compensate for the seam allowance. Unfortunately I had used up the last of my chocolate brown in cutting 1 1/2 inch strips and so I needed to make a trip to the quilt store in town for more fabric. I brought a little square along to make sure I got the right fabric. Lucky for me there was exactly 1 meter left of that fabric on the bolt!

I washed and pressed the fabric and then cut 2" sashing strips from it which I sewed around the outside of the partially completed place mat tops.  They look quite stunning, if I do say so myself.

Because I had made 8 mats instead of the 6 or 7, I now realized that I didn't have enough back fabric for them all. A few days after that I was in town again and this time I brought one of the completed place mat tops with me to the quilt store.

I was amazed to find there were so many different browns out there and after looking at many bolts of fabric, I settled on one that was masculine looking and a similar reddish brown as the sashing, maybe a bit darker.  The saleswoman there, who is a very experienced quilter, pointed out to me that if I were going to put binding around the mats, I could go with a lighter shade of brown for the backs, but since I was planning to "envelop" them, the lighter color would show a bit around the outside and it would attract the eye rather than the black and white of the place mat blocks. Good advice, Thanks, Sherry!

Now the back fabric is washed and pressed so tomorrow I will proceed to cut it the same size as the fronts and do the same with the inner batting so they can be sewn together ( right sides facing); then turned right side out and pressed. After that they will each need some machine quilting.
Last of all, I will sew a 1/4 inch seam all around the outsides, they will be all done.

More photos once they reach that final stage! :)