Crazy Patchwork Placemat

Look what the cat dragged in. A crazy patchwork for one side of a long and short handle bag from bygone days. I think most people who learnt to make bags would have made at least one such bag. Some people call it Japanese Knot Bag. The bag does not come with any bag closure. Instead the longer handle goes into the shorter handle to act as a closure. It is a unique bag. I made one for my dear mother and after using it she told me rather sternly never to make such a bag again. She found it rather irritating to unloop the handles in order to take things out of her bag. She returned the bag to me and I used it. Sure enough, the handles irritated the hell out of me. So I stopped making such bags. Maybe this explains why I have this unfinished crazy patchwork panel.

The crazy patchwork is quite well done. Well, except for the 2 long strips where the handles are. Otherwise, I would say this is a text book crazy patchwork.

I thought this would make an excellent placemat for my son so I cut the handles off. I told my son I was making a placemat for him and he said: don't make anything for me! Yes, I have that kind of family. They prefer factory made stuff. Nothing handmade please!

I had one issue with the placemat and that was whether to quilt the top piece to the batting and background. Since I already had the decorative embroidery stitches sewn on the patchwork, I didn't want to "spoil" the look. So in the end, I used an adhesive spray to temporarily hold the 3 pieces together. But honestly, it would have been better to sew quilting lines. The bias binding came from a leftover from Shirt No. 1.

Looking at the different pieces of fabric on the crazy patchwork makes me a little nostalgic. Yes, that word again. I'm remembering the projects I had made with each fabric. The center kangaroo(?) was a leftover from a Ikea fabric I used to make a blanket for my kids when they were in kindy. My daughter is still using it. The batik was from a cheap dress I bought at a flea market. It bled like crazy.  Took like 10 washing to get rid of the bleed. The camouflage fabric was from my very first sling bag... Where has the time gone?

p.s. Son has accepted the placemat, I think. I threw it at him and he didn't throw it back.