OPINION, PLEASE. . . How to quilt placemats

Hello everyone! Did you think I fell off the edge of the planet? Nope. But it's been so hot I haven't been working on my usual stuff. Right now at 6:45 pm, it is still 85 in the house! Yikes. Oh well, fans are whirling away which makes it tolerable.

Well I sure have my nerve! lol. Haven't posted in 10 days and now I'm asking for help! I sure do hope someone out there in blogland has some ideas and is willing to share. The problem is how to quilt the center of some placemats that my Quild is making.  We are making more than 200 placemats to be delivered to seniors over the upcoming holidays. Out of necessity these need to be made rather quickly, so to eliminate attaching binding, I have done the layer/stitch/birth technique. To help the edges have a nice finish, I added topstitching 3/8 inch from the edge [please see the second picture below]. 

Placemats for Seniors - Holiday Season 2012

Closeup of the edge finish:

Now what?? The problem is what to quilt in the CENTER of the circle after stitching the circle shape itself???  Would some rather large meandering look ok? Has anyone tried a meander over the top of a "pictoral" panel... does it look ok? Maybe just a simple grid across the whole thing???  Oh, I should mention the batting is Warm&Natural, so not a lot of quilting is necessary. The fabrics were chosen so the placemats could be used for more than the Holidays... check out the back:

Placemat back

Thank you for any advice or suggestions you can provide.  Until next time. . .

Quilty Hugs,

FLIMSY FRIDAY . . . a few finishes - small, but DONE!

Hop on over to Pat's blog to read all about Flimsy Fridays. She gives a good explanation of what many of us are trying to accomplish. Her button is on my sidebar.
My offerings this Friday are fairly paltry, but, hey, they are D-O-N-E, and that's the real deal, eh?! Because everything looks better next to flowers [tee hee] I propped this little PH up against a vase of my birthday flowers which are fading fast. lol.

The first two flimsies are biggish potholders for DD's new little cottage down by the beach. The first one is from blocks made at Retreat using the D4P method that I read about on Elly's blog. I like they way she does it. Below is a closer look at my efforts of FM straight-line quilting -- it's a bit wonky but I'll get it; just need more practice. lol

The one above has a quilted back and a crocheted front... the crocheted front is the "practice piece" I made while designing and playing with colors for DD's large Granny. Her afghan wound up being a bedspread for a Queen size bed!

Then a rather largish child's quilt -- I sew quilts, make hats, socks, etc., as a means of giving back to my community. It is part of my personal commitment to put Gratitude Into Action [I'll write a post about this sometime]. Back to this quilt: I have always stitched the first seam of binding by machine and then finished the back with hand stitches. I am making so many projects now that this is no longer practical. I am trying to get proficient at applying the binding all by machine. My first few efforts are not really terrific, but it's a start and one has to begin somewhere. I try to begin at the beginning. lol

 And b/c these are all BLUE, it fits right in with the  Rainbow Scrap Challenge for February... nice how that worked out. lol.

That's all for today. I have some housework calling my name so guess I will finish that up before I leave to meet DD for lunch. We are going to the Soup Plantation Express near where she works in Carlsbad -- they create the yummiest salads! 

Then it will be back home -- I am anxious to begin a project I read about on Connie's blog [Quilting By The River]. Speaking of Connie's blog, be sure to pop on over there on Tuesdays -- she throws a Linky Party!  There is a button on my sidebar that will take you to the post. Fun!

Quilty Hugs,