17 in 2017 - Tablerunner #6 finished!

Tablerunner number six is complete!

This one measures 18 by 29 inches.

Matchstick quilting and a small dent out of the scrap basket!

Chrysanthemum Quilting!

It was my birthday last month and I did receive some quilting goodies! My sister sent me over a signed copy of Emma Jean Jansen's book By the Bundle and four fat quarters. I ordered myself a copy of Modern Machine Quilting. Grace drew my portrait as a sewing super hero. And my in-laws deposited cash into our bank account so I could go here and spend it! The fabric on the left is what I purchased there as well as two delightful five inch square packs by Kaffe Fassett. I did intend to add it to the pile of "beautiful to look at, I will use you one day" Kaffe fabrics I already have,

But instead I added three more squares to each and they have become Tablerunner 7 and Tablerunner 8. I totally disagree with the husband who suggested I have gone with a simple design to get closer to my tally of 17! I am letting the fabric speak for itself Daz, cutting it up and adding other fabric would have taken away from the beauty that is Kaffe! Can you sense him rolling his eyes at me??!

So to add a bit of pizzazz to this runner, I turned to page 71 of my new quilting book and decided to give Chrysanthemum Quilting a go. It has added a nice texture to it.

17 in 2017 - Tablerunner #5 finished!

I finished Tablerunner #5 earlier this week but it has been a busy week so I'm only getting around to blogging it now. I'm really happy with this one, I love the colours, I love the scrappiness, I love  the spiral quilting. Might be hard to give this one away! It measures 13 by 34 inches.

I quilted this in an anti clockwise direction. Big mistake.It got a bit bulky in my machine's throat towards the end but being a small item it was manageable. Next time clockwise Helen, clockwise!

So Daz worked it out, if this is tablerunner #5 and I want to make 17 for 2017, I have 12 to go. We are in June, so 6 months to make 12 tablerunners. That is 2 a month. Or 1 every two weeks.

Or half a tablerunner every week. He continued to break it down to days and hours and then minutes. I told him to be quiet. But it did point out to me that I need to get my skates on! It is not impossible yet!

Here is the sunset from the end of our driveway earlier this week. Pretty.

Matchstick Quilting

It is a the end of a long weekend here in Western Australia. Today was "WA Day". An anniversary that "commemorates the foundation of the Swan River Colony near Perth by European settlers." Personally to me it means a sleep in till 8, another coffee in bed and some sewing time! So I got stuck into quilting my latest tablerunner. First I did white......

Then I added pale green between the gaps and leaving more gaps to add in some pale blue.

It has created a great texture. I brought myself a copy of Modern Machine Quilting for my birthday a few weeks ago and apparently this is called Matchstick Quilting. Well there you go, I learnt something new today. :)

17 in 2017 - Tablerunner #4 finished!

I have finished Tablerunner #4! This one was pretty simple to whip up, it measures 23 x 16 inches. You have to love a quick disappearing 9 patch! I tried to lay the blocks out so no two fabrics were touching each other. But I noticed while doing the binding, two long thin rectangles are the same print next to each other. Oh well! 

I just did straight stitching on each side of the seams. I thought the blue binding would work with the orange. 

And here is Dolly's favourite spot! This is her "stop sewing and give me attention" face.

Wordless WIP Wednesday #8

17 in 2017 - Tablerunner #3 finished!

I finished the binding on Tablerunner #3. This one measures 13.5 inches wide and 36 inches long.

I really wanted the dark red for the binding but I only had enough to make the binding 2 inches rather than the usual 2.5. Wow, what a difference that 0.5 made to my fingers when I was sewing the binding down. It was tough getting my needle through all that extra layers. It wasn't as smooth sewing as usual.

This is the backing. Think I like it as much as the front!

These photos were taken in the entrance hall of the house. Another suitable place to take finished photos. Well, 3 runners down, binding on one and another one WIP. So that is 5 in 5 months, 12 to go! Get sewing Helen!

Tablerunner #5 - Designing a Rainbow

I am finding my sewing groove. These photos are from our recent holiday. Once I had sewn together this tablerunner, I still had fabric and time left over so I cut 3.5 inch squares with the idea of doing a simple disappearing 9 patch block. 

So fast forward to this week and I assembled them into the 9 patch blocks and then cut them in quarters. I liked the way all the larger squares were in the middle so sewed them together that way. Once all six finished blocks were together I added a few inches of solid orange Kona to the borders.

After that it was a matter of sandwiching it and then quilting it. I have just gone for an echo stitch on either side of the seams. The binding in now pinned down ready to sew after I have finished the binding from yesterdays WIP! I have a binding que!

So in the meantime my thoughts are turning to tablerunner #5. Its time for a rainbow. I have raided the scrap box. Let the ironing begin!

Wordless WIP Wednesday #7

17 in 2017 - Tablerunner #2 finished!

I have finished the binding on the second table runner for 2017. For those of you who pop into my blog regularly (hi Ruth!) you will know that we have recently moved again, twice in four months. So in this house I am still finding the perfect background to photograph a runner. The outside wall with an interesting rendered effect?

Or the side fence?

Or inside on my table?

Holiday Sewing

We have moved house these school holidays. For the last time for a long time I hope! I didn't want our two weeks to be consumed with unpacking so I booked a house in Fremantle for a 5 day "city break". It was lovely, we ate out every day, drunk too much and caught up with some shows on ABC iview! But I also packed my sewing machine. This was my view from the machine.

I purchased this material last year while in Vegas, time to cut it up. I trimmed it to a rectangle then placed the four prints on top of each other and sliced it in three.

Added a 3/4th of an inch to break up each of the prints and then sewed them all back together.

The quilting was up and down till I reached the point of no return, so reversed and made some sharp triangles. All that it needs now is the binding.

17 in 2017 - Tablerunner #1 finished!

Well its April and I have finally finished a tablerunner, only 16 to go! I'm happy with this, be nice to do some in different colourways or even a rainbow?

My sewing time is about to increase again. We are moving house again to a new town due to my husbands employment. I am taking the rest of the year off from my job to get everyone settled and sew!

Wordless WIP Wednesday #6

Wordless WIP Wednesday #5

Wordless WIP Wednesday #4

Another Scrappy Table Runner Finished!

Nothing like the husband going on a 10 hour fishing trip to get some sewing done! I finished this runner today. Just had the binding to sew on then down. It ended up measuring 18 x 33 inches. We are going out to breakfast tomorrow morning to farewell the lady it is for, finished just in time,

Here are my quilting specs for next time:

Pressure dial on the back of the machine -1.

Upper thread tension - 4.0.

Stitch width - 3.5.

Stitch length - 3.

Top thread - Aurifil 50.

Bottom thread - Aurifil 50.

Direction of quilting - Down, pivot 180 then back up.

WIP Wednesday #4 - Binding Perfection!

I couldn't have done this if I tried! Look at that corner, the chevron points in the corners match up perfectly, I couldn't believe it when I flipped it over after sewing the binding on. So I have the binding on ready to hand sew down. Instead of doing that though, I decided to sandwich a table runner top and quilt it for a work colleague who is leaving town next week. Two projects on the go at once? Crazy stuff!

A Pink Christmas Runner?

Its beginning to look like Christmas!

The cheesy Christmas decorations scattered around the house and the fact that I have finished something gives it away!

Hope all is well in everyone else's sewing world.



A Wonky Picket Fence Table Runner

I finally finished the binding on this green and yellow sort of a wonky picket fence block.

It measures 36 inches long by 19 inches wide.

I had this square floating in the WIP/UFO pile so I used it for the backing.

I am really happy with the texture of the quilting. That Aurifil 50 did wonders! Now it's finished I have it rolled up in my "present stash" draw for that occasion when you suddenly need to gift a table runner.