Okay, I have to admit that I am curious about this supposedly hideous "bamboo fabric" that all of the Retreat people are struggling with.

I know what bamboo plants look like because my son had a clump growing in his back yard in Maryland. So is this fabric a photo type realistic bamboo print or is it a monster-ish cartoon-y painted depiction of bamboo?  Lifelike colors or bold sassy imaginary colors?

Could someone please post a photo of this fabric so I can envy the challenge that is overwhelming everyone?

It's not really the bamboo design - it's the distinctly under-whelming blah colors.  Well, the theme this year is making something that will make others smile, so I'm sure there will be some interesting entries.    

Here you go.  The fabric actually looks better in this photo than it does in person.  LOL  

Hmmmm ....  a photo of a youngish Tom Selleck wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian style shirt in this fabric would make me smile. 

judyinohio said:

a photo of a youngish Tom Selleck wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian style shirt in this fabric would make me smile. 

Just **thinking** about Tom Selleck makes me smile!

One of my on-going Forever Projects is making 4-hexie units EPP.  I've deliberately rejected making Grandmother's Flower Garden because BTDT, don't want to do any more.  I've been looking for other arrangements of hexies and found this one:  4 hexies sewn together and then all the units are smooshed together for form a top.  (This is not my photo but serves as my inspiration)

First fact: The original sewer used a Bali Pop, so her colors are wonderfully coordinated.  My fabrics are scraps and are not, in any any coordinated!  To be honest, I'm using the prepping and EPP sewing the hexies together as a mindless busywork project in between a REAL Forever Project!  As I sit in front of the TV or during a road trip, I'm busily stitching away.  And I really don't have any idea how all my disparate fabrics are going to work together (or not).  I may end up organizing them to look better together but for now, just making the 4-hexie units is good enough.

Except, as I look at my stash of 4-hexie units accumulate, I'm thinking .. what the heck am I going to DO with these things?  

Second fact: quite a while ago, we acquired a round table for use on our backyard deck.  I've always used my regular ... rectangular .. placemats on it.  But rectangular placemats on a round table look odd.

Conclusion:  ah ha!  I shall use some of my 4-hexie units to make wedge placemats that will look much better on my round table!  And that is exactly what I have done.  I found some fusible batting in my stash and cut a wedge placemat from them.  I didn't have any nice backing to use for (4) placemats but I *did* have a collection of coordinated 8" squares.  I sewed the squares together until they were big enough for a backing and fused the batting to it.

Then I arranged the 4-hexie units on the wedge shaped batting/backing and sewed all the units together.  I edge stitched the top to the batting/backing, did SIMPLE horizontal quilting to hold everything together and used scraps of tone-on-tone black as the binding.  Nice use of the black scraps because I used up those pieces!  Hooray!

Now, I have 4 nice wedge shaped placemats that look much, much better on my round table than any rectangular placemat ever would.  :-)

Those look good!  And they aren't boring ole placemats.  Well done!

They make the table look everyday dressed with class.  But once again a forever projectcompleted.

Jo

Love your hexi placemats.

mmmmm..... Tom Selleck would make me smile too.  Or, they could applique some cute little pandas on it.  They always make me smile too.