Placemats out of samplers

I bought a new sewing machine in December 2012 and started to free motion quilting in march. The first attempt was with a small house for little Sascha. I had to guilt the walls, floor and the roof. I( did it without a hopping foot and with embroidery stitches, leaves and flowers, on the wall.
I was not content about the quilting and searched the Internet for information.
Soon I found Leah's blog, watched tutorials on You Tube and started to free motion small 6x6 inch squares. But inspired by Leah's tutorial how to connect quilted pieces and her quilt of the '365 Days' samplers, I decided to make a quilt and first piece my squares to vife strokes for a quilt. I learned a lot following, (with a year delay) Leah's Quilt along project. To get a little but better I free motion quilted samplers. I used black cotton with some Indonesian batik. I made samplers as big as table runners and place mats. I struggled with my binding, but did not mind about it. I will give de place mats to friend and family, so I need to improve my binding by now.

Better, but I need more practice

Still need more practice

A little more practice

My firstsamplers