First, I made two sets of Quilted Christmas Cats Placemats for two very special family members, both of whom are Cat Lovers.
The center of each placemat is a different cat or kitties taken for a Christmas panel fabric. I pieced around each center block first with coordinating red strips and then with approximately 3" wide strips of the border, coordinating navy blue fabric with Christmas Kitties, to make the placemats measure 14" x 18" before I added the binding
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The backing of each placemat is also the Christmas Kitties fabric used for the borders.These placemats were very easy to make and only took about an hour to piece them all together. I used Warm and Natural cotton batting between the layers and then simply quilted them together by "Stitching in the Ditch,"using matching thread.Another gift I made was a simple Christmas tablerunner. Now a tablerunner is another quick and easy quilted project for even the most beginner of quilters. It is usually the size of two or three placemats put together, or about 18" x 36"-54." For this tablerummer I also used a block from a Christmas panel fabric, then pieced around the center to the size I wanted the runner to be.
Here is a picture of the back (the fabric is an all over Christmas fabric in traditional colors with snowmen, bells, wreaths and teddy bears) laid on top of the front (alternate strips in shades of Christmas reds and greens and off white) to see the different fabrics used. 
Again I layered the fabrics with batting in the middle and quilted it by "Stitching in the Ditch."Placemats and tablerummers are great small projects to practice machine quilting on. They are easy to manuever to quilt on a domestic sewing machine. These projects would be fun to make for any season or occasion by just changing the colors or theme of the fabrics.
You can see other sewing projects and ideas at Gidget Goes Home who is hosting the Handmade for the Holidays for quilting.
