I love hearts.

I love red.

And I love to decorate my table with appropriate quilted seasonal/ holiday decor.  So for February, in honor of St. Valentine’s Day, I had some fun with Snowy Hearts table runner IX (21" x 35").

It all began when I was designing and making Snowy Hearts table runner IX for Island Batik, May 2017.  As I was stitching the table runner I started brainstorming other projects using Snowy Hearts' 6” x 6" reverse applique heart block and my “scraps”/ extra yardage. I began to play with my pattern.

Snowy Hearts has 4 reverse applique heart blocks (6” x 6”).  For the table runner the top fabric is a white with gray flecks and the background is red.  I had carefully cut out the white heart windows to create these reverse applique blocks, which meant I was left with 4 white hearts that were already fused.

What to do with my leftovers?

At first I thought about making place mats with appliques of these white heart appliques, and coordinating plain napkins. But as my creative journey unfolded, I changed my mind and decided to use them to make appliqued napkins. I made them as reversible napkins that were charcoal gray on one side and white on the other.

But I still wanted some place mats, so I started going creative with quilting fun. 

From my leftover fabrics I also then created 4 place mats, 2 red and 2 charcoal gray, with 2 reverse applique hearts each.  This gave me even more cut out hearts to play with: 4 red and 4 black.   

Let's Go Creative with Quilting Fun

You will need Snowy Hearts table runner IX pattern to make the place mats and napkins.

Total Yardage for place mats and napkins needed:

• 2 yards – white with gray print, napkins and place mat backings

• ½ yard – Red, place mat tops, binding

• 1 ½ yards - Charcoal gray print, place mat tops, napkins, binding

• ½ yard – White with grey flecks, background fabric place mat reverse applique hearts

• 8 – 6” x 6” squares Soft Fuse

• 4 – 14” x 18” rectangles Warm and Natural batting

• Red Floriani embroidery thread for machine satin stitching

4 Place Mats with 2 reverse applique hearts (12" X 16"): 2 Red, 2 Charcoal gray

Cut:

• 2 – 12” x 16” rectangles Red, place mat tops

• 2 – 12” x 16” rectangles Charcoal gray, place mat tops

• 8 – 6” x 6” squares white with grey flecks, background fabric for reverse applique hearts

• 8 – 6” x 6” squares Soft Fuse

• 4 – 14” x 18” rectangles white with gray print, place mat backing

• 4 – 14” x 18” rectangles batting, place mats

• 3 – 2” x WOF strips of Red, binding for Charcoal Gray place mats

• 3 – 2” x WOF strips of Charcoal Gray, binding for Red place mats

• Spray on adhesive for layering

4 Reversible Napkins with 1 heart applique (18.5" X 18.5")

Cut:

• 4 – 19” x 19” square white with gray print, side 2 of napkin

• 4 – 19” x 19” square charcoal gray print, side 1 of napkin

• 4 – fused hearts for applique (leftover from Snowy Hearts table runner IX and/or from place mats)

• Terial Magic spray-on stabilizer helpful

Making the Reverse Applique Place mats with Machine Appli-quilting: 4

1. Trace the heart block pattern from Snowy Hearts table runner IX onto the paper side of the 8 – 6” x 6” squares of Soft Fuse.

2. Lay out your 2 - 12” x 16” Red rectangles and 2 – 12” x 16” Charcoal Gray print rectangles with the right side down on your ironing board. Position the squares of Soft Fuse with the hearts traced on them in opposing corners about ½” away from the raw edges.  On the Charcoal gray ones I chose to iron them in the upper left and lower right corners. On the Red ones I chose to iron them in the upper right and lower left corners. Iron.

3. Cut the hearts out on the drawn lines.  If you cut them out carefully you will have these fused hearts to play with for applique, too.

4. Peel the Soft Fuse paper off your place mat corners. Lay a 6” x 6” square of white with grey flecks, right side down over each heart “hole” in the corners. Make sure the fabric squares cover the fusible’s glue that’s on the placemat. If you don’t cover it, you will get glue on your iron. Iron.

5. Layer your backing, batting and place mat tops.  I held my layers together with 505 spray adhesive. It is best to let the layered placemats sit for 24 hours.

6. You can either quilt your place mats now and then reverse applique, or machine reverse applique and then quilt. 

7. Machine reverse applique with your satin stitch, or stitch of your choice, through all layers.  You are technically Appli-quilting ( See Tutorial on Machine Reverse Applique). As your satin stitch around the reverse applique hearts you will also be doing your first round of quilting on the place mats.( See our five-part blog series on machine reverse applique for tips.) I wanted a touch of Valentine’s red on every place mat, so I chose to do all my satin stitching with red thread.  I chose Red Floriani embroidery thread so I had a little sheen around my hearts.

8. Sew your Charcoal Gray binding strips together end to end, joining with a 45 degree angle.  Iron in half lengthwise with wrong sides together.  Do the same for the Red binding strips. ( See Tutorial "Bindings Part 1: Making Continuous bindings" and "Bindings Part 2: Mitered Bindings by machine". )

9. Sew the Charcoal Gray binding onto the Red place mats.  Sew the Red binding onto the Charcoal Gray place mats.  Fold over the bindings to the back and stitch by hand or machine. (See Tutorial on "Binding Part 3: Hand stitching mitered corners".)

Making the Reversible, Applique Napkins: 4

1. Machine stay stitch, stitching ¼” from the edge, on one side of all 4 - 19” x 19” squares White print and all 4 – 19” x 19” squares Charcoal Gray.

2. Layer a Charcoal Gray square with a White print square with right sides together. Have the stay stitched sides lined up with each other. Repeat until you have 4 layered napkin squares.

3. Stitch ¼” around the three sides that are not ironed.

4. Clip each corner at a 45 degree angle up to the stitch line.  Then cut the corners off close to the corner stitching.

5. Turn right sides out, using a bodkin or stylus to crisp the corners.

6. Fold in the raw edges of the stay stitched side, at the stitch line, and iron in the hem. Iron the other three sides, pulling the sewn sides out as you go, so you have a crisp edge.

7. Pin the ironed edges together.*see step 11 for information about stabilizers for applique. 

8. Top-stitch a scant 1/8” from the pinned and ironed edges all around.  Top-stitch again ¼” from the edges.

9. Peel the paper off a fused heart applique. (Choose either the white ones left from the Snowy Hearts table runner IX, or the red ones left from the Red place mats. I chose 2 of each.)

10. Position in a corner approximately ½” away from top-stitching. Iron in place.

11. Treat with Terial Magic spray-on stabilizer. If you are going to use an add-on stabilizer you will need to position it between your layers before you top-stitch the napkin edges. See step 7 above.

11. Machine applique the hearts on with a satin stitch through all layers.  I used the same Red Floriani embroidery thread so I would have a touch of valentine red on every napkin, too.

You are ready to set your table, and.....

.....Add a Touch of Elegance to your home for St. Valentine's Day! 

Feel the Love as you eat your meals, with this project that plays with Snowy Hearts table runner IX.