Deconstructionism

The Official Cookie Tester did not grow up in a home with a quilter so the process still mystifies him to a certain extent. He continues to wrap his mind around taking large pieces of fabric, cutting them into smaller pieces and then sewing them back into large pieces. He calls it deconstructionism, and he's not wrong. These pumpkins of mine could easily fall into that bucket because I seemed to be constantly assembling then disassembling to get me to where I wanted to go.

Not fussy on the pumpkins stacked one on top of each other for a runner (at least not for my table - it's just not large enough) Plan B became placemats. But they needed a little something extra. How about a bit of a sawtooth border to echo that pumpkin stalk? Rustic enough and just that added bit of interest.

I found instructions online and then, with a little trial and error, a size that would suit. It's pretty straightforward, you just have to remember which direction to draw your sewing line, depending on the colour of the fabric. 

I'm including them here as much for my future reference as for your info. Brown was always sewn down and to the right...

and the black down and to the left. That's not to say that a few goofs didn't happen, which meant a little time with Jack (the ripper...).

Add in a narrow spacer and voila - a placemat. And all would have been well except for me deciding to randomly trim bits to get the right proportions, first from the top, and then the sides. It didn't help. Not sure where to go, I let them sit for a bit....M