Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Fall Fortnight Placemat Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Fall Fortnight blog hop, and thanks for visiting!  Check out Carole's blog at From My Carolina Home for lots of fun fall sewing, crafting, and cooking ideas.


One of my most favorite projects to work on as a quilter is making placemats out of scrappy leftovers.  I especially enjoy trying to use up the leftover jelly roll strips after making a quilt. 

After participating in the 2025 Fall Fortnight, I won this jelly roll in Carole's giveaway. 


Earlier this year, I used that jelly roll to make this quilt top during the Little House on the Prairie sew-along at Melva Loves Scraps.


Of course, not all of the strips were used up in the construction of the quilt top, so I decided to see how many I could use up to make some fall placemats.  Using a quilt-as-you-go technique is a fun and quick way to sew these together.

Carole recommended that the placemats made for the blog hop be 12 x 18 in size.  So I layered a piece of backing and a piece of batting, cut at 14 x 21, and fused them together with a bit of basting spray.


Quilting as you go means you layer two strips right sides together and sew them together right through the batting and backing.


Press to the batting and add some
 quilting along the seam line 
to anchor the strip down.

You can even add some additional quilting
with a decorative stitch on your machine.




Then just keep going until you get the width you want!


I trimmed to 12 x 18, added binding, and voila!  (The plaid strips in the jelly roll were perfect for the binding!)


Carole is coordinating a placemat donation drive for her local Meals on Wheels organization in coordination with this blog hop, so I made two.  I'll be sending these off to Carole later this week.


If you feel inspired to make some placemats for Carole's charity collection, too, I know she would appreciate your contribution!  

Be sure to visit the other bloggers who are participating in this blog hop!  You can also find this list with links at From My Carolina Home! 

Carole at From My Carolina Home - Placemat Blog Hop and Charity Project
Diann at Little Penguin Quilts - Fall Fortnight Placemat Blog Hop - you are here!
Mary Ellen at Quilt Mouse - A Blog Hop with Fall Fortnight 2026
Vicki at Colorways by Vicki -Placemats for a Cause
Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl - Fall Leaf Block & Placemat Tutorial
Kathy at Sewing Etc - Fall Placemats
Mary at Stitchin’ Grandma - Fall Placemat Tutorial
Kathleen McMusing - Maple Leaf Placemats

Also sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.
And at Quilting Learning Combo for I Quilted This.

 











 

20 comments:

loulee said...

Very pretty placemats.

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

What a great way to use the leftovers from the jelly roll! Well done!

Susie H said...

Always wonderful to use up leftovers -- kind of like Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches!

Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

Great way to use up some fall print strips! Thank you for participating in Fall Fortnight!

Anonymous said...

Perfect use for those jelly roll strips. Our guild makes placemats for meals on wheels too. I may make a few with some Christmas/winter prints using this method. Gail at the cozy quilter

Julierose said...

I just love your JR placemats--such pretty fabrics--bright and cheerful--nice work on these...hugs Julierose

Mary Ellen said...

I love projects that use up scraps. The Placemats look wonderful!

Kat Scribner said...

Your autumn placemats look very festive, Diann. Love these fabrics.

Vicki in MN said...

Well done, they are gorgeous with all the fall colors.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I have never tried a quilt as you go project, and placemats would be the perfect way to give it a try. Your placemats are lovely and I'm sure they are going to be appreciated by the recipients. Thanks for sharing the great tutorial!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Nice!!! What a great way to use these strips - and QAYG!! I'd love to try that technique - perfect sized items to try it on!

Mary Rudd Deeter said...

Well done on using up the leftover strips. I love making placemats this way because they go together so quickly. Thanks for a great tutorial.

Needled Mom said...

Those would make any meal feel special. Very nice.

Kathleen said...

Those are great placemats, and I love using up the bits from a prior project. Quilt as you go is fast and you made two lovely ones for the charity drive!

Chantal said...

Great use for those leftover strips. They look great in the placemats for this great cause. That's two wonderful hits with one stone . . . or should I say with two placemats? ;^)

Vicki W said...

That's a great way to use up leftover jelly roll strips!

piecefulwendy said...

Cut e & quick! So pretty on your table!

Melisa- pinkernpunkinquilting said...

Oh how pretty, Diann and cheerful as well. You did an amazing job on the quilting.

Kate said...

Very fun placements. I'd forgotten about that quilt as you go method.

Jeanna said...

I remember those fabrics. Love the placemats and I'm sure they will be appreciated. The table topper is also very pretty, Diann.