Let it Snow, Let it Snow- Snowman Placemats

Let it Snow, Let it Snow- Snowman Placemats

Claire's placemat has regular binding made of 2 1/4 inch strips of pink star fabric matching the back and scarf.

The Hallowe'en Jack-o-lantern Placemats were such a hit, I decided to make our 4 little grandchildren a snowman placemat to use over Christmas and the winter.
I found a cute pattern for snowman face block on a wall hanging featuring 3 little snowman faces with different accessories, either a hat, a scarf or earmuffs.  
(Quilter's World magazine-  "Quilting for the Holidays" fall 2014 Page 130)

It starts out as a 10 1/2 inch snowball block made out of white fabric, ( 3 1/2" blue squares for the corners)  then 1 1/2 inch strips of median blue fabric for the sashing.

I added 3 1/2" X 12 1/2" rectangles of pale blue hearts, mitts and evergreen print fabric to the sides, then 1 3/4" strips of the same fabric to the top and bottom.

Tanner's Mat-  Dark green Christmas tree fabric backing and mock binding on edges.

After that chose some fabric to use for the hat, scarf and earmuffs.  Than I tried to scan the templates for the accessories and blow them up 150%. Had a bit of trouble with our scanner so I ended up drawing them bigger, then tracing them onto the back of the Steam-a-Seam webbing. Next I pressed them lightly onto the back of the fabrics, cut them out and arranged them on each snowman block in correct oder. (the scarf has 4 separate pieces, the hat and earmuffs have 3 each.)  I chose a blanket stitch on my Janome and sewed around the outsides of the appliqués accessories in their respective colours. I also appliquéd orange carrot shaped noses on the faces and used my "disappearing ink" pen to draw the eyes, and mouths.

I used machine stitches for sewing the eyes and mouths next:  After a couple of bad attempts which were rectified with the seam ripper, I ended up using stitch #  139 twice to make each eye (once on the right and once upside down to the left). Then Quilt stitch # 93 for the mouths, going over the mouth lines twice (and even 3 times in one case) to make the mouths stand out more.

Hayden's Mat -Red snowflake back fabric and mock binding matching the pom pom

Each placemat has a different back, either pink, red or green print, depending on the colour of the accessory on the front.
Quilting: I machine quilted with white thread around the snowman faces, then with blue thread around the sashing, and coloured thread around the hats, scarf or ear muffs. I free- motion quilted loops and squiggles on the sides and bottom fabric.  Next I trimmed the excess batting off the edges using scissors, and then trimmed the back fabric to 1 1/2" width all around the edges of the mats.

Adelynn's Mat: Pink/white polka dot back fabric and mock binding matching the hat

To make the mock binding:
I pressed in each corner of the extra back fabric, then pressed the rest of the fabric in half towards the edges of each mat.  Then I turned in the edge fabric once more, pinning it to the placemat on all 4 sides. (It should meet nicely in each corner. Then carefully trim off the excess corner fabric parts that are sticking out.)
Last I sewed all around the 4 sides about 1/16 from the inside fabric edge.
Placemat done!  Finished mats:  15" X 18"