Would you like to test a pattern/tutorial for me?

 I made some scrappy place mats earlier this year and took them along to a club day. The other ladies liked them a lot and I found myself volunteered to do a wee tutorial for our June sewing day.
Today I've been busy making two more and taking closer note of what is required. I would very much appreciate it if you ladies would look over things and maybe even try making one or two and then giving me some feed back. 

Requirements to make one mat

Grocery receipts, 4 pieces per placemat. Approx. 9.5 inches each but we can join pieces together if you only have shorter pieces. (My supermarket uses 3 inch wide papers).

Enough fabric scraps and off cuts to cover the receipts. Any shape will do.

5 matching pieces of fabric 1.5 inches X 9.5 inches for sashing and side border strips.

2 pieces of the same fabric 1.5 inches X 16 inches for top and bottom borders.

Binding fabric. I used two leftover strips from a jelly roll.

Piece of batting. 14 x 18. Franken batt is perfect for placemats.

A fat quarter for backing fabric, or a piece 15 X 19 inches.

Directions. 

1) Shorten the stitch on your sewing machine and using the grocery receipts as foundation papers sew your scraps on to them. Don't worry if some of the scraps are not wide enough, you can sew two together before sewing them on. Once your paper foundations are covered, turn them over and use the edge of the paper as a guide and trim off the uneven edges of the fabric using a ruler and your rolling blade.

2) Next remove the paper foundations. The papers are perforated by the stitches making them easy to remove. If like me you have used some triangles you may have points of paper that don't come out so easily. I used the tip of my seam ripper to get under them and tease them off. 

3) Return to your normal stitch length on your sewing machine. 

Sew a sashing strip to each of your scrappy pieces and arrange them how you like before sewing them together and adding the final strip to one end.

Press toward the sashing strip. Then add the top and bottom borders. 

Yes I made two.

4) Layer your top with the batting and backing. Baste and quilt as desired. I used four pins in each foundation block and a simple zig zag stitch around the edges of the foundation blocks.

5) Trim the batting and backing fabric then add the binding and close using your preferred method. I still prefer to close by hand so that is what I did. 

Step back and admire your work.

As you can tell I struggled a little with light levels today so I took mine outside for a quick photo shoot.

Where there was some sunshine and shadows.

And it was cold! We only got up to a high of twelve today with a cool Southerly blowing through.

I didn't linger looking for other opportunities.

*

There you have it, my wee tutorial/pattern.

Please give it a go and let me know how you get on.

If I need to make anything clearer or adjust any measurements please do let me know.

I'd love your feedback, good or bad.