The cloth napkin; you simply can't ask for an easier home décor project. If you are just getting started or teaching someone else, napkins are an instant-gratification winner. If you're already a pro, they're a fast and fun project; and this time of year, a perfect host & hostess gift to whip out in an afternoon before your evening festivities. We kick ours up a notch with beautiful decorative stitching all around the edge and a coordinating fabric napkin ring that "ties" together all the beautiful mix-and-match patterns. As part of our final 2011 Artist Trio Series with Free Spirit Fabrics, this project features more of the Classic Modern designs of Joel Dewberry's Heirloom Collection: traditional florals paired with contemporary graphic motifs.

My brother made me laugh out loud when he said a "mug rug" sounded like a bad toupee for an ugly guy. Although a great guess, a mug rug is really a mini placemat designed to be able to hold your coffee or tea cup and maybe an extra little treat, or... when placed by your sewing machine, a handy place to jab a few pins and needles as you sew. Originally, they came onto the scene as a fun excuse to use up some scraps to make an itty-bitty quilt. We took the mug rug concept a step further by turning it into a hand-sewn greeting card with the addition of our Salutation Strip through the center. Cards are a nice thought, but most eventually end up in the garbage can. Instead, create a Happy Birthday, Congratulations or I Love You message with a purpose; an every day reminder to the recipient that they have a friend in you!

Welcome to part two of our latest Free Spirit Fabrics Artist Trio series. These collected articles are a way for our Sew4Home friends to meet some fabulous Free Spirit designers, try out a special project each has created just for us, and enter to win some gorgeous fabrics and other goodies. Easy and fun as 1-2-3. This Trio is all about prolific designer, Anna Maria Horner. Last month, we interviewed Anna. Today, she shares an original table scarf pattern with beautiful hand-embroidery accents. Thread up your needle and read on.

Like Monday's pillow options, table and kitchen linens are a great way to practice patchwork on a smaller scale than the traditional quilt format. We've picked out five projects with a variety of patchwork styles. Several of them were originally designed with a special holiday in mind, but don't let that stop you! Close your eyes and envision them in a different set of fabric for a completely unique look. Remember, we're practicing our patchworking skills, so look beyond the Halloween candy or Holiday décor to the solid techniques at the core of the project. Plus, who says you can't start a holiday project now? Certainly not little ol' me!

This time of year, we're all wearing our hearts on our sleeves. Why not spread the love to a few other items? Today, our chubby cherub hearts perk up a plain square coaster. It's a great project to practice your appliqué skills. We used Charm Pack Squares, which made things very fast and easy. But I bet you could also burrow into your scrap basket and find some cute little pieces that have just been waiting for the opportunity to shine.

Kwanzaa is coming up this Sunday, but this Table Mat, which debuted for Kwanzaa 2009, is easy to make in time to decorate your table. Most often here at Sew4Home, we give you very specific information on our fabric choices so, if you want, you can create an exact replica of our project. This time, we're pushing you out on your own. Not to be mean, just because we happened to stumble across this beautiful African print fabric collection on Etsy and purchased all the seller had available. However, we've seen similar lovely prints at local fabric retailers and online, and so feel confident you'll be able to find a set of fabrics that will be just perfect for your celebration.

A sparkling diamond ring (so lovely). The coveted brass ring (so tempting). The mythical Lord of the Rings (that Elf was so handsome). The unsightly furniture ring (note to self: keep Uncle Frank away from the antique sideboard). If you hate rings on your furniture, you'll love these coasters. A sewing project doesn't get much easier than this one; just cut, stitch, press. I made all four of our samples in under an hour, and I was stopping to take pictures!

We're so excited to have Bari J. Ackerman back in the house! She has returned with another fun tutorial for us. From her Keeping it Real Sewing Patterns™ by Bari J.™, comes a fun set of circular placemats fringed with pom-poms. Bari also spent some time chatting with us about the inspiration behind her latest fabric collection, Country Lane, her first experience with her very own booth at the Houston Quilt Market, and exciting news about her debut association with Lecien Fabrics and a new book coming out in January.

A package arrived in the mail for us several weeks ago. In it were four lovely coasters from our friend, Tammy Hensley. You may remember Tammy from the Creative People We Love article we did about her back on November 9th. You might even recall a little photo we used of a set of her clever coasters. Little did we know we'd soon be the proud recipients of our very own 'Dual Duty Coasters.' Better still, Tammy was happy to share her original instructions with everyone here at Sew4Home.

The experts always recommend layers when dressing for winter; we felt this advice should extend to winter table top dressing as well. Our holiday tablecloth is actually two layers: a plain fringed underlay and a patterned flat overlay with pretty dangling pom-poms as corner accents. With the underlay made out of a neutral fabric in a simple fringed design, you can reuse it with a new overlay for a new season or holiday.

Ah! Pity the naked chair. Everyone comes to the dinner table in their holiday finery and the chair pulls up without a stitch on. An elegant cover not only avoids embarrassment for your mild-mannered chair, it doubles the decorative charm of the entire room. And really... why should the table have all the fun? Our festive cover features an accent 'collar' with pretty dangling pom-poms. It's what all the best-dressed chairs are wearing this season.

We love cloth napkins, and this bound-edge variety is another of our easy yet elegant designs. It got us wondering about the ubiquitous napkin. Turns out the modern day table linen has quite a history, dating back as far as the Romans, who used a larger cloth called a mappae, which was spread over the edge of a couch to protect it while dining in typical Roman reclining position. Jump forward to France in the 1700s; the napkin had evolved to an important part of the formal table, and the French court's elaborate codes of etiquette included such important social rules as: "It is ungentlemanly to use a napkin for wiping the face or scraping the teeth, and it is a most vulgar error to wipe one's nose with it." I think this still holds true today!

Maybe we chose this Michael Miller fabric for its name: Send in the Crowns. Maybe we were captivated by the metallic sparkle of those rows and rows of crowns in their beautiful and unique shade of platinum. Maybe we wanted a clean, cosmopolitan design to blend with our Thanksgiving Elegance table. Actually... it was all those things, and the result is our lovely tri-panel placemats. A super simple project to make, an ultra sophisticated look on your table.

Although I have no proof, I feel certain that somewhere in my past there is an ancestor of regal bearing. Perhaps a Baltic princess or a brooding prince from the moors of Scotland. I have a deep affection for well-appointed luxury. For a formal occasion, I love the look of a table runner with place mats. The rich dark wood of the dining table sets off the fabric, and the individual linens act like beautiful little frames for the china and silver. This very elegant table runner in a sparkling platinum damask with rich mahogany accents is from Michael Miller's Antiquity collection. It's certainly fit for a king or a queen or... for your own royal family this Thanksgiving.

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.'

My favorite part of Italian cooking is the sauces. Spicy red sauce with lots of chunky vegetables. Rich alfredo sauce with extra garlic and parmesan. They're all deliciously drippy. And, none can be properly eaten without a nice, big napkin. Our Bistro Napkins are generous at 20" x 20" and feature a fun border strip along the bottom of each. Cloth napkins are truly one of the very easiest projects for a beginner, and a great way to 'go green.'

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.

The baby bib's number one job is to be a stain force field. It is often the only line of defense between that adorable handmade white sweater from Aunt Lisa and a favorite bottle of fruit punch. The best bib should: fit snuggly around baby's chinny-chin-chin, be absorbent, easy to launder, fast to get on and off, and in my book, super cute. When you're under 24 months, the bib is your primary fashion statement... ya gotta work it. We offer a free, downloadable pattern for our Snap-On Baby Bib.

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.

'Gee, Mrs. Cleaver, I love your tablecloth.' 'Thank you, Eddie. But you'll still need to drop that waffle and back away.' (No, Leave It to Beaver fans, I made that up!) This delightful reversible tablecloth is two-two-two tablecloths in one. The top is created with three fabrics from Barbara Jones' Simply Sweet collection. The back is a soft egg-yolk yellow with an accent kick of Simply Sweet for the flounces. Each corner comes together like a perfect four-way intersection... without the stop sign, of course. The blend of vintage patterns and colors makes me want a bowl of Maypo or, at the very least, some Ovaltine .

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.

Kwanzaa is a celebration of family, community and culture that combines traditions from many African cultures. It marks the harvest and emphasizes seven principles of strength: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. The 'mkeka' is a place mat, on which the mazao, bowls of fruits and vegetables, are placed. It is traditionally made of straw or cloth and represents culture and history. It is the symbolic foundation on which the holiday stands. Our Kwanzaa table mat is based on this tradition.

Appliqué is one of the most versatile techniques in sewing. It allows a simple piece of fabric to become a canvas, on which you can create collages of textures, colors, and other fabrics. Machine embroidery takes this traditional art form to new, and amazingly easy, heights. Specially designed stitch files do most of the work for you. You just 'float' a piece of fabric, trim, then watch as your embroidery machine precisely creates an ingenious blend of beautiful embroidery and appliqué.

Welcome your guests to their seats with a stylish place card and a little surprise. These favor bags are so easy and quick to make; it took only one hour to make and finish enough for six place settings. This is a great fabric scrap project. One bag uses just a 6" x 13" piece of fabric. Use up leftovers from our Thanksgiving Arts & Crafts style tablecloth and napkin tutorials or try contrasting fabric.

Square fabric napkins are super simple, especially when you follow our easy directions for how to make a perfect double-turn, narrow hem with clean corners. This holiday, pass on the paper, and make your own beautiful cloth napkins.