Setting the table

 Hello everyone! Is anyone else scratching out their eyes from all the pollen? I look like I've been crying for days. Several days this week, when I left work, my car had turned green because it was just covered in pollen dust. Then it became a very amusing game of "how do I get into the car without actually touching the car?" Spoiler alert: I lost that game.

This was a busy week, and I am behind on everything in my life, but I did manage to at least start a project that includes two small finishes this week. Take a look and then I'll explain:

You can see those cool houses, and also that I somehow never got around to taking out those azaleas last year. I really forgot about them until they started blooming this year. Oh, well!

Here's the story on the houses: have you seen the Rainbow Neighbourhood pattern by Sandra at mmmquilts? She is running a quilt along with this pattern over on her blog, and I knew as soon as I saw it that those fun houses would make great placemats. I know! I feel kind of bad that I thought that, because the two quilts she shows are adorable, but all I could think was "fun placemats."

To be fair, we eat outside a lot in the summer, and the houses make placemats in a great size for outdoors. I made two houses already, and I have an awesome purple one cut out, and I want to make an orange one, but I can't decide what will go with orange. I really need six placemats in all. The pattern has a ton of options for the houses-- different blocks for the side, different window configurations, a porch roof-- so I'm sure I'll be able to get six different fun placemats for our summer adventures.

I quilted these in pale yellow thread with straight-ish lines about an inch apart, which was probably too close. The backs are some brown/ gold fat quarters that actually make awesome backings. No clashing with the fabrics on the front! The pattern went together really easily and I was able to finish these off over a couple of afternoons. 

These finished off at just about 16 by 20, a nice generous size. And if you're thinking, "gosh, Mari, that's too big," take a look at how they are on the outdoor table:

Just the right size to keep all the food and utensils nice and clean! And away from the pollen, too. You can see that the table is glass, and things clatter a lot, too, plus I want to protect the table as much as I can.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and that the scratchy eye thing eases up soon. I might wash the car, but there's that "getting in without getting all gross" thing . . . I should just stay inside, right?

Sharing at Sandra's quilt along linkup, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished or not Friday, and the Quilting, Patchwork, Applique linkup.