A year and two seasons of Ugly Betty later . . .

(And one season and 26/27 episodes of Grey's Anatomy.)

I finished the place mats (8 for each holiday) and runners (4 each). Yea me! I bought fabric nearly a year ago, but it has taken me forever to get the momentum started. Not working, and having great shows to watch while I sew, helped a ton. What does it say about me that I need background noise to be productive?

I'm really excited with how they turned out. Looking back now, I should have coordinated the colors better, had one common color in all the stripes. Though at the same time I'm happy they turned out how I initially planned--lots of fun fabrics I loved that don't necessarily coordinate but make me really happy.

I still need to iron and starch them into submission (which will be interesting because I don't iron so I don't know how to use starch).

Here's Christmas. I love the striped material. And the nutcrackers.

On the opposite side of that (they're double-sided, with one pattern on each side) is the appropriately- but boringly-named "Pretty."
Here's Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday, especially as far as colors and patterns, so the place mats make me giddy.
And here's the opposite side of that, Thanksgiving. These are surprisingly my favorite runners and place mats, probably because all the pieces have brown in common. Hence my realization I should have coordinated better. This was a great project to (1) get me used to and not afraid of the rotary cutter and cutting fabric in general, and (2) practice sewing straight lines. Which it turns out I can't do, especially if the lines are thicker than the sewing machine foot thingie. But hopefully no one will notice except me.

My next project is a stocking for Baby Pink Sassy. I'm excited to start.

Here's the (very small) pattern for the place mats and runners. If you want the Excel version, let me know.