Without a spare month to spend learning Italian in Rome from a handsome young man over plates of spaghetti and glasses of wine, perhaps these placemats can serve a starting point. We used the signature Mutli Blocks Italino fabric from the new Michael Miller collection, Alfabeto Italiano Collezione. The fabric features elaborately illustrated 4" x 4" alphabet blocks in wonderful vintage colors. Why in just the short time it took to make two placemats, I've already learned that "L" is for lanterna (lantern), lepre (rabbit) and libri (books). My impressive vocabulary will undoubtedly come in handy as soon as I step off the plane in Italy and need to locate 'books on hunting rabbits by lantern light.'

It's a reversible placemat. No, it's a party activity. Wait... you're both right! Our party placemats feature fun and festive fabric from Patty Young's new Playdate collection on one side, and Über cool chalk cloth on the other. Similar to oilcloth, chalk cloth is heavy yet pliable and waterproof. You can write on it with regular or liquid chalk and then wipe it clean with a damp cloth or baby wipe. We gave each party guest his/her own box of chalk to play with, keeping little hands busy while we set up for more fun and games.

This terrific table runner combines two of 2010's top trends: the color turquoise and ruffles. Hats off to our new friend, Angela Yosten; a web developer for Moda Fabrics, United Notions and Moda Bake Shop... as well as a very creative blogger under the name, Moda Home Mom. We met Angela recently while setting up our designer relationship with Moda Fabrics. She was very enthusiastic about our Turquoise 2010 series and had a great idea for a table runner, using a Moda pre-cut Jelly Roll. Angela's designs have been featured on many popular blogs and sites, and we are thrilled she wanted to share one with us. We'll be returning the favor very soon – be looking for a Sew4Home pre-cut project to be featured on Moda Bake Shop.

These beautiful placemats are perfect for your big National Embroidery Month family dinner. The seed packet print is ‘fussy cut' to take advantage of the cool striped pattern, then paired with wonderful botanical embroidery designs from Westminster Fibers new collection of embroidery design CDs digitized to coordinate with fabrics from some of the industry's leading fabric designers. We choose two designs from the Anna Maria Horner CD.