Post-Modern
I know my Mother wonders where I came from . . . but the truth is, she also quilted when she was my age, just not big quilts. Lots of baby quilts, lots of pillow covers.
She was never into country-style, not even French country. Danish modern, black and white all the way.
She was complaining about not having any “fat” tablemats; she doesn’t want hot coffee cups marking her beautiful wooden tables (can’t blame her!) We searched all the stores in vain – “fat” tablemats are just not in style right now.
But I can make fat tablemats!
The design process – never be without your graph paper!
The finished tablemats:
They could actually be two rows shorter – I made them very generously sized to be sure the coffee cups land on the tablemat. These are 16″ x 24″:
Christmas Frenzy
The problem with a specialty blog, like quilting, is that in order to quilt, you have to make the time! When you are in a quilting frenzy – you have less time to blog.
And I have another consideration – I don’t want people running across these photos who might be on the receiving end. I think I am just about safe, now.
For my friend I grew up with in Alaska, who now has Alzheimers, I made a set of napkins and tablemats, and an apron. We looked at this fabric together, I bought some to use for my Dad’s Alaskan Quilt; she passed, thought the fabric was too expensive. I learned a lesson – buy that fabric now! Who knows what may happen tomorrow!
She made so many sets of napkins for me, and I still have the last set.
The apron is called a “tablier” (tah- blee- ayy’).
When our son started school in Tunisia, we had a list of things to buy him, all of which I could find except this mysterious “tablier”. I thought it might be a writing tablet or board, until someone showed me an apron, identical on both front and back, that children wear when painting or doing work with glue, etc. I liked it so well – and I am so messy – that I figured out how to make it grown-up size, and have been making them for myself and friends ever since.
I even wear the tablier while quilting – keeps most of the threads on the tablier, and not on me! 
I hope it will remind my friend of our happier times together, growing up in Alaska.
