Set your table with beauty and charm

A dining table can be such a central place in any home – physically, emotionally and visually. Physically, it’s a place to gather and visit over shared mealtimes. On an emotional level, a table is a place where love and care can be experienced and memories are made. And visually, a dining table can bring about all the wonderful feelings associated with those. Just looking at it should evoke warmth, comfort and joy.

What better way to encourage that than to decorate the place where you enjoy your meals and family time with something eye-catching and beautiful. And even better, why not do it with something you’ve made yourself using the visually captivating colors and patterns of the JUST RED fabric collection.

All you need for these simple yet lovely placemats are nine 5” x 5” charm squares per placemat. If you have a charm pack containing 42 different fabric charms, you can make four placemats from one package. Add a little fabric for the backside that you can buy by the yard, some binding, and it’s really a quite simple project – with a stunning outcome.

Sew three squares in a row, and add those rows together to make a larger square. Cut out a circle, quilt it with your domestic home sewing machine, bind it and you are done. This is a project that can easily be done on a weekend, and during these days when we are being asked to remain at home this is a perfect project to enjoy. You can also take the opportunity to sew some for a friend and make the most of a challenging time by creating something thoughtful and gorgeous for any table space.

These beautiful placemats were sewn by Yvonne Aumann…

Find her on Instagram @phiundlu

And now on to this week’s Block for our year-long sew-along… Ready?

FREE QUILT ALONG BLOCKHEADS 2020
BLOCK #13
THE BALDWIN

Here we go with this week’s block for Blockheads 2020! If you’re just joining in, we share a free block pattern each week as part of our year-long sew-along. Feel free to jump in any time! You can go back through the last several blog posts to catch up, and be sure to check out this post to find out what fabrics you’ll need to create your own unique sampler quilt using free block patterns from Moda designers each week.

And, if you’ve been sewing along with us, we’d love to see your blocks in our thriving Facebook community or on Instagram using the hashtags #modablockheads and #modablockheads3. Stop by and share your blocks with us – we’d love to see them!

You can also take a look at Blockheads 2, our last Moda Blockheads adventure. It was a great time with lots of new friendships and a wonderful community, and we’re thrilled that this year’s Blockheads has been just as amazing so far.

This week’s block comes to us from Moda designer Jen Kingwell. Jen is known as one of Moda’s modern designers, and she creates fabulous scrappy projects. Jen also has fabric lines that reflect her scrappy look which is also a little bit retro. Be sure to check Jen out on Instagram to see her wonderfully unique and creative inspiration.

Don't miss the other blockheads involved in this project:

Betsy Chutchian
Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilt
Janet Clare
Jan Patek
Jen Kingwell
Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree
Jo Morton
Laurie Simpson
Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings
Lissa Alexander of Moda
Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles
Me & My Sister Designs
Robin Pickens
Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life
Stacy Iest Hsu
Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique
Carrie Nelson

Stay tuned… Each week I’ll reveal more of my layout with the next block!

What kinds of projects are you working on during this stay-at-home time? Share with us in the comments below!