WIP Wednesday - Placemats

So glad to actually have a WIP to share this week!!  I actually started my placemats on Saturday.  I had a few hours in between a Dr. appt and "date night" with the Hubby, so I got to work.  After finishing up the Cuddle Blanket for Miss L, I got all the pieces cut out for the placemats.  Nothing too fancy, just 12.5" x 18.5" rectangles for the fronts and backs, and then 12" x 18" rectangles of some iron-on fleece interfacing.  I actually stumbled on a tutorial video on YouTube from Professor Pincushion a while back and knew I just had to make these.

Of course I can't just do things the easy way.  No, no, no.  See, I have what I passionately call "Jacki Syndrome" named after my mother whom I have inherited my passions for crafting from.  She can NEVER do things the easy way!  Always, always, ALWAYS taking something simple and putting her own twist on it, usually creating twice as much work.  Ha ha ha.  That being said, I had to jazz up my placemats.  Just couldn't leave the solid brown side so plain.  Off to the embroidery machine I went.

I found a couple of designs over at Embroidery Library that I thought would work and I was going to make them all different.  Attempting to simplify things a bit, I ultimately decided on just one design and am sticking with it throughout the 6 placemats.  I managed to get a couple done after work last night, and will hopefully get the rest done tonight after work. 

Fortunately there were only two colors used which makes the embroidery go by relatively quickly .  I don't get much time after work/before bed during the week to get much done, but I'm trying really hard to keep plugging away at these so I can wrap them up this weekend.

I've also made some serious progress on the knitted Baby Blanket I'm making for a baby shower gift next month.

I'm thru 10 repeats out of a total of 14, so I'm really hoping I can get this wrapped up this weekend/next week.  I did have a minor setback though.  Over the weekend, apparently Mr. Vito (the fur-baby) was bored and decided to get into my knitting bag and drag my project across the floor, making a tangled mess of everything.  Fortunately, it doesn't appear that he actually damaged the blanket on the needles, just the big 'ol skein of yarn attached to it.  Just an insanely tangled mess!

I'm debating on breaking the yarn and taking the mess over to my ball winder and attempting to untangle and rewind the skein.  I just hate the thought of having to weave in an unnecessary end.  Guess I gotta do what I gotta do.

Linking back to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday and Sew Fresh Quilts' Let's Bee Social