I finished sewing the binding down on this last night. So in the second month of the year I have completed one Christmas present! Wohoooo!
It measures 23 by 45 inches.
And for the back I didn't quite have enough green, so added a strip of red. No idea who it is for, I'll just fold it in the cupboard for 10 months now! A friend is turning 27 on Monday and I am inspired to whip her up a table runner now, 5 nights, can I do it? Enough time blogging, time to get sewing!
2012 is the year of the table runner in my house and I am starting the Christmas presents extra early this year! I recieved for Christmas just gone, a set of Christmassy themed charm squares from my sister and so what better to sew a table runner from them? On the weekend I was surfing the net looking for inspiration for a quilt I may be designing for a friend ( I say may cause I haven't said yes yet. When does one take the leap from sewing to give away and sewing for a commission??). Anyway, I came across this tutorial here for Charmed Whirlygig's which got me reaching for my stash of white tone on tone and cutting up squares. It all came together very quickly.
I only used 36 charm squares, I have enough left to make another. So here we are ready to sandwich on the weekend and do a quick stipple, bind and then next!
We had Christmas celebrations a few days early with my side of the family as we will be here with Daz's side of the family on Christmas Day. So Mum and Andrea happily received their table runners! I must say both ladies were slack and didn't keep up their end of the Christmas Table Runner deal.... but I felt pleased I had finished all mine. :)
The Christmas Table Runner madness started here and now 6 weeks or so later, it is over! Yahhh! I'm a bit over Table Runners at the moment I must admit. Here is the last one, #6.
Another Disappearing 9 Patch Block. But this one is small! I cut the squares 2.5 inches and they are from my stash, well some are and some are from Mum's stash. This is her runner and she giggled on the phone the other day that she hasn't even started mine, typical! They have just brought a new caravan and so Mum wanted a runner for the table in that. The table measures 20 inches wide and 40 inches long, so not exactly a large table!
Matilda snapped this shot of me putting on the binding. Not looking to bad for a girl who has sewn six table runners in six weeks! That is my in-laws bookcase behind me, if it was my house that bookcase would be packed with fabric! Note the two lovely dolls quilts received in the background as well. :)
So here is runner #6. 18 x 13 inches, more a placemat size really. But seeing as though the interior of the van is hues of blue and cream, this should match perfectly. I hope.....
I have finished Christmas Runner #5!!! Which is good as Matilda finishes school this coming Tuesday and this one is for the Teacher's Assistant in her class. Teacher's Assistants are the forgotten helpers at school sometimes and they are really the glue that hold the class together. I let Grace choose between this one and Christmas Runner #4 for her teacher and she choose #4 so this one goes to Milly's Teacher's Assistant.
Simple Disappearing 9 Patch Block on the front, two fat quarters sewn together for the back. But I am proud of the label.
I got Matilda to draw a picture of her teacher, photographed it, imported it to Photoshop and added the type, then printed it out and sewn on like described here and wolah, fancy label I know the teachers will ohh and ahh over!
This is such an easy runner to make. I'll do a tutorial here to show you just how easy lemon squeezy it is! I made this one with 27 charm squares, these ones are 5 inch squares. So lay them out into 3 groups to form a 9 patch block. Keep in mind that the squares in the corner of a 9 patch block will not be cut, so make sure that is a print you really like. The square in the middle of each 9 patch will be sliced twice, so keep that in mind too, busy prints or a neutral work best for the center square.
So once you are happy with the placement, sew them into 9 patch blocks. Hopefully they will stay in order! I always seem to get one row mixed up along the way.
And this is the fun part! After ironing your 9 patch block, slice it in half, rotate it and slice it again. So your block now becomes 4 blocks.
After you have cut all 3 of the original 9 patch blocks together, you now need to arrange the 12 new blocks in a pleasing manner. For this one I regrouped 4 little blocks to make one big block again, so I had 3 large blocks to make the runner. I tried to have 2 little squares in the center of each block facing the same way for each of the 3 larger blocks. Does that make sense? But you could really arrange the blocks anyway you wished. That's the joy of a Disappearing 9 Patch block, it doesn't really matter!
So once you have sewn all those blocks together you are on the home stretch! To make this runner just a little bit bigger and to frame it, I added a border of 1.5 inches as above.
Quilt as desired. I just did a meandering stipple all over the D9P blocks and an echo stitch just inside the border. Binding is on and pinned in place ready to hand sew down for this one.
Despite a busy week outside of my blogging life, I finished table runner #4! Just a simple Disappearing 9 Patch block with some Moda charm squares I have had since.... who knows when! These runners have been great for stash busting!
The binding was left over from this quilt. And the backing was a perfect half yard cut from equilter earlier this year too. I just did a quick stipple over it. I can't emphasis enough these are quick, easy and simple runners! I am making the exact same pattern for Runner #5, nearly ready to sandwich it. I think I'll do a tutorial so you can see how easy peasy it is!
I have finished two of the table runners for the girls teachers Christmas pressies. The end of the term is sneeking up on us!
I think this one is my favourite so far. This is the back. The binding was picked out by Ads and Emma on a recent Adelaide shopping spree!
And another from the same Twiddletails pattern.
And the back again. I used a Micheal Miller daisy vine print that I have had for years and wondered if I would ever use it! I now have half a meter left! Actually these runners have been great for stash busting, haven't brought any new fabrics to make them.
And this is where I am up to on runner #4. Sewing down the binding. My arm has been aching as it did here. I am recognizing that this happens when I have done too much. Too much mouse clicking, to much hand sewing, too much bauble writing. I am about to give up the least important thing, the bauble writing! Yahh!
I have an outdoor studio today! Used the outdoor table to sandwich Christmas Table Runner #3. Made a change from doing it on the floor.
Here it is all quilted, ready to be trimmed and the binding on. This one is for Matilda's other teacher. She has two teachers, one for Monday and one for Tuesday! I noticed the other week that this teacher had a stylized rose print similar to the black print third from the top, on the hem of her skirt. So thought I would match this runner to her taste? I don't know! It's hard to guess what they would actually like, I can't go in and quiz them, do you like brights? Amy Butlers new range? Log cabin or bento box?? So I am making things I hope they will like.
Watched Miss Austen Regrets tonight on the ABC and finished sewing down the binding of the first of the Christmas Runners. This one is for Milly's teacher Miss B, she announced at the parents info morning back in term one, that she just adored Christmas! So perfect for her, I hope.
I went for the green in the end. I used some of my Soiree by Lila Tueller for the backing. Next!
Well I have got the binding sewn on for Christmas Table Runner #1 and so it was time to turn my attention to Christmas Table Runner #2! Something a bit more funkier for this one. I have raided the Denyse Schmidt stash and found my copy of the wonderful Twiddletails pattern. You can find a PDF copy of her pattern here. I have made this pattern before, here. Honestly it takes more time to ponder over the fabric choice than to sew, nice and simple which is what I need as although I may seem like on a roll with the Christmas Table Runners, I'm not at the halfway point in the list to complete yet....
But today was productive, I cut, sewed together and have it all ready sandwiched ready to go for tomorrow! Just planning on doing a straight stitch 1/4th an inch on each side of the seam.
I have quilted the first of the runners. Just an all over stipple, nothing fancy, no flowers or loopy swirls, just a good old stipple! I ended up using a verigated green, both on the front and back.
So now I am ready to bind this one and am unsure which would be the best colour. This photo isn't the best, sometimes seeing a photo really makes the choice easier..... I love the greens as there is little bits of dark green in some of the holly leaves, so that would be a good match even though it is not "Christmas material" But I don't have enough, going to raid Mum's stash over the weekend and see if she has anything similar or even one of these prints as its a dull dark green, not in my usual palette! The reds are deep and rich with little tone on tone motifs, again not Christmas related. I have plenty of each colour, just pondering if it will make the red zig zag in the middle too bold? Thoughts dear blog readers?
This was my first layout.... but I didn't like that I had four blocks left over and the brown triangles making the background when the rest was white? Naaa, that's not going to work.
Then I went for zig zags, hmmmmm, not bad! Possibilities....
But then just to see what else was possible, I did some pinwheels which I admit I do love but again, one block left over. Suppose I could put it on the back but I want the runner to be as big as possible.
So I went for the zig zags. Easy and quick to sew together. I have the backing and pellon already cut, ready to sandwich and then quilt. I think I might try out the red of this thread. Or maybe the green. I have four runners to finish for Christmas so maybe I can try out both threads?!
