Hometown Table Runner

Here's a table runner I never posted.  I was waiting because I plan to make one for myself, this one was a gift for a friend around Christmas.  But, it's May and I haven't gotten around to sewing mine, so I figured I should post this one.

Fabric: Hometown by Sweetwater.

Other details I'll have to find later, I think I wrote the strip width down and the overall dimensions somewhere.  But, my room is still torn apart from painting, progress is slow but I am trying to be good about donating and recycling what we really don't need to keep.

And this is the fabric I'm making my skirt out of.  I hope to finish it to wear on Mother's Day.  Really all I have left is the lining.

Farmdale Blossom by Alexander Henry bought at JoAnn's.

I really wish I had bought more of this pretty fabric.

Summer Breeze table runner

 Made this table rummer today out of Summer Breeze II by Sentimental Studios for a friend as a birthday gift.  It's about 51 1/2" by 20".  The strips are 2 1/4 " and the back strip is 4 3/8" and is 10 1/4" in from the edge.  I used a zigzag stitch to quilt between the strips (yellow thread) and to attach the binding (blue thread).  I was a little hesitant to attatch the binding by machine, but gave it a whirl, and I'm so glad I did.  I'm pretty picky, but it all lined up nicely on both the front and the back and only took like 15 minutes. Yippee!!  Hand stitching the binding to the back would have taken me over an hour at least. 

The colors & prints are just so fresh and happy.  There are also some greens in the line, I just didn't use them for this.  I love the blue print I used for the binding.  I might use it and the white print with little blue flowers to make a dress or shirt for K*. 

I totally ran out of yellow thread when I was about 2/3 done with the machine quilting, so I had to stop and run to the fabric store.  When I was almost done attatching the binding, I ran out of blue thread with about two inches left.  Luckily, I had enough on the bobbin left to wind some back onto the spool and finish it up.  I also broke two needles while attatching the binding.  One time the tip totally bent sideways and the next time the tip snapped off.  I put the denim needle in after that.

It was cloudy yesterday and today, but about 10 minutes after I took the pictures, the clouds cleared out and the sun is a shining as it gets ready to set. So refreshing after it's been so rainy, cloudy and drab the last few days.
I made another table runner as a Christmas gift, a top of a table runner and have enoguh scraps for another one out of Sweetwater's Hometown that I'll post about all in one post when I'm done with all three.

Jovial Table Runner

Wednesday night (Nov. 30) I decided it was time I started & finished this table runner.  I bought the fabric in like September intending to make a table runner for Christmas and just couldn't figure out for sure what I wanted to do with it.  I think I'm also one of those people who has a hard time working on a project for a holiday when it's not that holiday season yet.  My favorite by far is the white print used for the wide border.  The fabric is all from the Jovial line by Basic Grey.  I didn't have enough of the white print left for the backing, so Thursday I ran to the fabric store to get what I needed to finish (backing & binding).  They were out of my favorite print, so I picked out another nice poinsettia print.  I do have enough of the white print left to make another different table runner though, so I bought backing & binding for that future project too (might be next year though).  I'm even tempted to make a tree skirt out of a white dot print not seen here.....

It's about 43" x 23" and the strips are 3 1/2" with 5 1/4" border.

It makes me happy when I go in the kitchen and see it on my table.

Someday I'll learn how to do some simple machine quilting, for now I have to stick with straight lines.

Central Park Tablerunner

I used the pattern Simple Little Runner by Camille Roskelley (she's awesome and I love her new book, Simplify) from Moda Bakeshop. I made this for a friend as a birthday gift. It's always fun to have a reason to sew something.

This is the runner, taped to the wall, before machine quilting it. I used a Central Park by Kate Spain charm pack, so not a lot of cutting was involved (Yeah!) and white for the two strips and binding. The hardest part for me was arranging the squares, it seriously took me way longer than it should have. I ended up only doing 7 rows instead of the 8 in the pattern.

This is the first project I've machine quilted. I'm pretty happy in general with how it turned out. Sometimes I get a little crazy unpicking things unless it turns out just right, which makes any project take longer. I tried out some of the presser feet (a quilting foot and a walking foot) I bought for my machine years ago and never used until now. I tried out free motion quilting on a scrap and wow! do I need to practice that a lot before ever using it on something I want to look nice. So, I used my walking foot to sew straight lines. A sweet friend T*was very helpful answering some of my questions over the phone. I machine stitched the binding on rather than hand stitching it on the back; mainly to save time. I think it turned out looking nice with the other lines on the front, but the back was only so-so. The stitching line on the back wasn't exactly straight relative to the binding in some areas, but I hope it's good enough.

I really LOVE the blue floral (especially the purple) backing fabric. (the sun is shining on the middle making it lighter) I may need to figure out something else to make with this print.....