This challenge was started to give us all a quick finish to not only benefit charity, but also to help us feel like we are getting something accomplished during these long days at home.  The idea was to make a placemat with the theme of how you are spending your time.  This could be scenes depicting what you are doing, using fabrics that you were working with for other projects, or any interpretation of the theme that made sense to you.  Now, placemats and pictures are starting to arrive. It is fun to pick up the mail these days! Here is mine, with strips of fabrics representing my garden, the birds we are watching, and fabrics from my current projects.

Mary Kruger was the first one to send in her placemat, and to post it on our Facebook group.  She had finished a John Wayne quilt for her son, and had some bits left over that made a wonderful masculine placemat.

Joan Shepard got to work and made a bunch of placemats from fabric left to her by her friend, Bev, after she passed away.  She said this one was a project in progress at the time.  She didn’t know if it was the leftovers from another quilt or the start of a new one.

The rest of the placemats Joan made also used Bev’s fabric. It was given to Joan on the assumption that she “use it for good”, and I think she met that goal.  Two of them have a golfing theme, and the others have fun cola and shirt themes.

Brenda Ackerman made two placemats for donation in her area.  She did straight line quilting in a cross hatch pattern on both.

Her second one had a small panel surrounded by borders in pretty blue and yellow.

Gene Black made his first placemat scrappy and reversible.

Then, he meant to throw out the bits left over from a quilt, but they didn’t get put in the trash as planned.  So, there was enough for a second reversible placemat.

Jennifer Padden made two lovely placemats with strip piecing for her own community.

Kathleen Rountree put several placemats on her longarm at once.  Aren’t these pretty colors!  She is in the longarm association with me, and I hope we can meet again soon.

Niki Winchell sent in these bright center fabrics surrounded by squares of prints.

Susan Earle was having some fun with the idea of flatware, and she posted it on Instagram too.  She used a couple of Lori Holt books to do this design.

Cindy Beal made her placemat with cute houses.

Toni Jarvis used a lovely combination of colors in strip piecing, and she also put hers on Instagram.

Linda Brayton sent two hexie placemats.  She said in her note that she was finishing up a hexie quilt and had enough left over to do these.  She was delighted that she could use them in a small project for charity.

Karla sent two lovely blue and purple placemats with pockets on the right side.  She was having some fun with paper piecing.

So here are the ways you can enter for the random drawing once you have completed your placemat.  You get one entry for each one you make, and I have 25 entries so far.  The deadline to enter is May 15th.  You can donate locally, or send it to me for donation here with the group, or make them for yourself to keep.
Enter using one of these ways –

• Send the placemat to me by mail for donation to Meals on Wheels.  I’ll take some pictures of the entries for sharing.  It must arrive by May 15th.  Send to Carole Carter, PO Box 524, Mountain Home, NC 28758
• OR – Post pictures of your placemat(s) on your blog and link back to the challenge.
• OR – Post a picture on Instagram or Twitter, #coronacationplacemat with a link back to this post, and send me a link to your post.
• OR – Put a new post in our Facebook group (Friends of From My Carolina Home) with a picture of your placemats(s).
• OR – Send me an email with a picture of your placemat (medium kb size please) to frommycarolinahome at gmail dot com.

Just choose which way it is easiest for you to enter.

The Grand Prize will be Vicki Welsh’s Color Wheel Stash Pack, all fat eighths, a rainbow of hand dyed beauty.  Runner Up prizes will be two of her Shirbori Hand Dyed Dish Towels in either Blue or Lavender.  See her website at Colorways by Vicki, visit her store, and see her lovely blog too.

Prizes will be drawn on May 16th, and winners will be notified via email.  I’ll announce the winners and give another update in two weeks.

Are you participating in the challenge?  What are you working on now?