Placemats ready

Well, I'm working my way out of this muddle, and at least the placemats are ready. I settled in front of the TV last night to hand stitch the binding, and one exciting movie later it was all done! Today I have finished the top for the birdhouse table runner and I'm about to find some backing fabric for it. I'm off to my mother's for dinner today, and I'm taking the heart runner along to do some stitching on the binding for that one. Although it is a sign that a project is almost done, I can't say I like the process. If only I could find a way to machine stitch the binding on and still have it look good on both front and back, I'd be thrilled. I know I could make a generous binding and machine stitch in the ditch along the edge from the front, but I'm just too fussy about the way it looks on the back to be entirely happy with it, so hand stitching it is...

This is the pattern by Vera Fjellaas that was my starting point. I left out the branches and did it all in "my colours". By the time I had finished the first one I wanted to do something different, so the other one got a proud mother hen adapted from a cross-stitch design by Margaret Sherry. It is from a pattern I have paid for and I'm giving her credit for it and it is only for my own personal use, so I hope I'm not violating any copyright rules here...