Gift table runner

A friend of mine is having a 50th birthday this coming weekend. Unfortunately I can't make the celebration as I'll be around 500kms away, but I thought I could make her a small gift. So I worked out this table runner.

The strips were pretty easy, if just a little time consuming, but worth it. They varied in width from 1 and half to 2 and half inches. The lengths I also varied, the total width of the runner 14". Then since the wavy free-motion quilting seemed to work quite well on this table runner I'd made before 

I thought I'd give it a go on this one too. Pretty happy with the result. And fortunately I had just enough of the olive green to make the binding. I'll be finishing up that hand sewing around the binding tonight so that I can pass it on tomorrow. 

Here's a shot of the backing which is featured on the front as well. 

I think my friend will like it. What's your 'go to' gift for a friend at short notice?

Runner stats:

Width: 14"

Length: 50"

Wadding: 60/40 Cotton/Polyester

Thread: Gutterman's and Rasant

Until next time,

Lynn

Baby quilt and runner

The novelty squares that were once in a panel are now surrounded by sashing, quilted and bound. Its quite bright, but since its for a second child, perhaps the slightly older one (around age 2) will enjoy it as well. Its always such a boon when I can use my stash as I did here. The panel was in a remnant bin for only $2 (AUD) and then in a second hand shop I found the backing sheet also for $2 (AUD).

Its a simple stipple but with all that colour going on I think simple is best. And then around the yellow border I just had to do a bit of a swirl. 

This is the backing - sweet for a new born, I really like Winnie the Pooh and Tigger! And it was just about the right size, just that two and half inch border needed at each end. 

This is the for grandchild of a friend. Nice to be able to make them for others since I don't have any grandchildren yet. 

Another simple make is this table runner for another friend who has her 65th birthday tomorrow. She has a cat and liked this fabric when I made a runner for my sister-in-law. This is an easy frame of squares and the quilting also just echoing them. Sometimes simple is best. 

Hope she enjoys it. 

The border fabric adds a touch of class - makes it look almost Egyptian. 

Well on to the next project!

Until next time,

Lynn

Table runner

I've been fortunate enough to get away to our holiday place for a few days. The weather (despite it still being Winter) has been glorious. Here's a view from my afternoon walk.

While I'm here, I'm doing some sewing of course, and I realised that its been years since I made a new table runner for home. I've made them as gifts for others, but of course home tends to come last. But I saw one on Pinterest that I thought I could figure out. Seems that when I made the small squares I got a little carried away and didn't check back to see that I should have created rectangles rather than larger squares. Never mind, I'm still happy with the result. 

Here's a closer up showing the wavy quilting I decided to do. I couldn't quite face just outlining the squares and I thought the organic lines would help to unify the whole. The splash of turquoise picks up one of the colours in the fabric for the centre of the larger squares and the small beige/mushroom ones. I picked up a metre on special last week, but the rest all comes from my stash. 

The backing is a soft beige with a leaf pattern also from my stash. 

Its nice to know that when I get home I can put this on the table - once I figure out just what to bind it with. Since I'm here till Monday I might get some more quilting done yet too. 

Until next time,

Lynn

Table Runner season

Since just before Christmas, I realised I've made 5 table runners. I didn't realise I was in a season of making them, but three have been gifts and two were for our place at Christmas time.
They are really handy as presents for people as they aren't such a large gift that the recipient feels overwhelmed, which they sometimes can if given a quilt. They also don't take as long to make and they can be fun to explore in terms of the quilting on them.

Here is my latest, playing amongst the Gerbra plants in the garden. The colours just seemed to go so well with the green and flowers. A cute place for a picnic if you don't want things to be flat.

 

Here it is in the kind of situation it is more likely to find itself, flat on a table. And see those little ears poking up at the end of the table, that's my Abby. My little shadow who is always not far from me!

The quilting on this is very straight forward - literally straight lines creating the criss-cross effect throughout the runner. That's partly because I thought it suited the runner but also because I'm 'between' machines. I've sold the one I had and am considering purchasing a Janome Skyline 3 or 5 or a Horizon (my friend has one of those). I'd welcome any feedback from anyone who has one of these, meanwhile I'm reading all the reviews I can find on line as well as going into a shop to try one soon. I like the amount of throat space these machines offer and they're around my budget for a domestic machine. 

I am continuing to work through fabric I have on hand (otherwise known as the stash!) and was pleased with how a metre I had for who knows what, seemed to work well for a backing for this one. Just needed a small strip down the centre. It finishes up at 62" long by 22" wide. Here it is playing in the garden again:

I will get back to the quilts I have in process soon, meanwhile it's nice to celebrate a finish. This one is destined for a part of the world I've not yet been to, Nebraska, US - maybe I'll get there one day, meanwhile this will go as a gift. 

Until next time, 

Lynn

Linking up with Quiltstory and Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Forest and trees?

I have a friend who is turning the big 60 this week, and her favourite colour is green. So I thought I'd make her a table runner. That was the easy part. I then found a pattern I thought would look quite good and tried to choose fabrics that I thought she'd like.

The result - I'm still a bit undecided - the cream 'windmills' stand out well and then I quilted to help the 'square' to stand out.  They seem Ok, but is it a matter of not being able to see the forest for the trees?

My how the colour can appear differently, outside above and inside below. 

The tree fabric in the centre, below, is one that I really like and trust my friend will too, perhaps I should have added a light grey to blend better ? Too late now anyway, her birthday celebration is tomorrow! 

I also had a slight issue with my threads, - my machine is a bit fussy and likes to have the same on the bobbin as on the top and I just didn't have a dark green in the Superior thread I usually use. So there was some of the green from the front of the runner, showing through on the back. What to do? 

The feathers looked Ok on the front, so did I really want to unpick all those feathers? All those tiny stitches? I don't think so!  

So my 'fix it up as you go along' solution was to add a strip over the offending border similar to a sleeve you might add for hanging I guess. 

I know its far from ideal, but this runner is not for a competition, its to show my friend (I've known her for over 30 years I think) that I care about her, and want to give her something in her favourite colour that shows that. So I hope she gets it. She's more of an embroiderer, or painter or other artistic things, but I think she'll like it. 

Until next time, 

Lynn

Runners and Rugs

Its definitely that time of year, the time of making new Christmas runners, small gifts for people and the like.

I've completed one table runner that was just a panel, but I had great fun free-motion quilting the 60 small blocks it had with various patterns - from simple outlining, to stippling and lines like Christmas lights. And it is one that is finished, so that's a good thing!

I've also nearly completed (just binding to add) on a couple of mug rugs for a couple of friends of mine. I also explored the flange or piping addition to the binding on the first one. I didn't realise how easy it was [thanks to instructions from Aunt Marti http://www.52quilts.com/search/label/Tutorials]

That will be a help when it comes to quilting and binding my other table runner. 

This one was a quilt along that I joined in - hoping to have it done by Dec 4 but that didn't happen! Maybe early next week I'll get it finished then. 

Hope your Christmas plans are coming together. I still haven't put up the tree, but also hope that will be achieved over the weekend.

Until next time, 

Linking up with Quilt Story; Freshly Pieced Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Lynn