Holiday Blooms , a 21” x 21” quilt piece, was designed just for the AQS Christmas Countdown 2020. Good cheer and success are yours with these holiday Poinsettias created with our simple machine reverse appliqué method with appliquéd flower centers. It was designed as a centerpiece table decor, or small wall-hanging or large pillow.

This blog will walk you through using the same Holiday Blooms pattern to make a set of 4 placemats (11” x 18”) to accompany your Holiday Blooms quilt piece. Look for our other blogs to make a coordinating classic long table runner and a cute 5” ornament, too.

 The Holiday Blooms pattern is FREE from the AQSblog.com, and you will need to download it to make these placemats. There are convenient Placemat kits that include top quality Island Batik fabrics and Soft Fuse fusible available that make 4 placemats each on our website. The kits also include a coupon code to get a FREE PDF digital Holiday Blooms pattern from our website. Holiday Blooms Placemat fabric kits come in two holiday colorways, Red Poinsettia and Christmas Flowers, that coordinate with our Red and Green/ red colorways of the Holiday Blooms 21”quilted decor piece.  They include cutting directions for the fabric.  Look also for the blog to make a classic long table runner using the Holiday Blooms PDF pattern to create a complete Holiday Blooms décor ensemble.

Let’s get started!

 To make 4 placemats you will need:

Christmas Flowers colorway

Top & Binding:

• 4 – 11 ½” X 11 ½” squares white, Center Flower Block, top fabric

• 4 – 11 ½” x 11 ½” squares red, Center Flower Block, background fabric

• 8 – ¾” x 11 ½” red Inner Border strips

• 5” x 5” square yellow for applique of Flower centers

• 8 – 3 ½” x 11 ½” rectangles green Side Borders

• 6 – 2” x WOF strips red, Binding

Red Poinsettia colorway

Top & Binding:

• 4 – 11 ½” X 11 ½” squares white, Center Flower Block, top fabric

• 4 – 11 ½” x 11 ½” squares red, Center Flower Block, background fabric

• 8 – ¾” x 11 ½” red Inner Border strips

• 5” x 5” square yellow for applique of Flower centers

• 8 – 3 ½” x 11 ½” rectangles white Side Borders

• 6 – 2” x WOF strips green, Binding

Both colorways:

Soft Fuse (double-sided, paper-backed, iron-on fusible):

• 4 – 11” x 11” squares Center Flower block;

• 1 – ½” x 2” strip for applique of flower centers.

Backing:   4 – 15” x 22” rectangles white

Batting:   4 – 15” x 22” rectangles

Terial Magic spray-on stabilizer or 4 – 11” x 11” squares of add-in stabilizer of your choice

 Making the Reverse Applique Blocks

Using the 11 ½” x 11 ½” white and red squares for the Center Flower Blocks, follow the directions for Machine Reverse Applique and Machine Applique beginning on page 2 of the Holiday Blooms pattern. The Center Flower block is the same red/ white coloring for both colorways.Square up and trim to 11 ½” x 11 ½”.

 Assembly of your Placemats

 Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew an Inner Border strip to one side of a Side Border. Iron seams towards Inner Border. Make 8.

 Pin a border to each side of a Center Flower Block, so that the Inner Border is next to the block.  Sew. Iron seams towards Inner Border. Make 4. Placemat measures 11 ½” x 18”.

Layer each placemat with batting and backing. Quilt as desired. When quilting reverse applique, quilt inside the reverse applique spaces to accent them, and keep the quilting in the top fabric at least ¼” away from these shapes or you’ll flatten the piece out.  Trim the placemat to 11 ½” to 18”.

 Sew binding strips together end to end with a 45° angle to make a 252” continuous binding strip. Sew red binding strips for Christmas Flowers colorway and green binding strips for Red Poinsettia colorway. Trim each 45° angle seam ¼” from stitching. Iron all seams in the same direction.  Fold in half lengthwise with wrong sides together and iron.  Align raw edges of folded binding with the raw edges of the placemats and sew, mitering the corners.  Fold over to the back of the quilt top and stitch by hand or machine.

 Set your table in holiday style and……enjoy a touch of Christmas elegance!

 See also our other blogs using the FREE Holiday Blooms pattern: Holiday Blooms: Classic Table Runner & Poinsettia Ornament!