Quilt 53: Hawaiian Table Runner

Last year I made a quilt for my neighbor Anna, using some fabric I'd picked up while on vacation in Hawaii.  It turned out terrific, and there were a few scraps left over.  In November, another friend asked me to make a table runner for her picnic table.  She spotted the scraps from Anna's project when visiting me, and went wild for it - in particular, this print:

(click the photos to see larger images)

She wanted a 95" long table runner - and there was just enough of the Hawaiian print left to do that, providing I cut the print into only a very few pieces (the more pieces in a quilt, the more fabric you need because you lose 1/2" every time you have a seam).  I thought about this project for a while, and decided to simply cut out two large rectangles, making the bulk of the top.  This would eliminate waste but also would prevent having the large print cut up too much.

Here's the initial design:

My friend asked for triangle ends instead of squared off - and that's what I did.  Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to model that in my quilting software, so you'll have to use your imagination.

Anna had opted for lime green thread for her quilt, but in the time since completing that project, I'd done another using a variegated turquoise - and hmmm...  That variegated thread might really play nicely on the print.

But, having learned my lesson on Anna's Sawtooth Star Poppies quilt, I "auditioned" both threads (which basically means piling up a couple of meters of thread on the print in question).  Doing that, I liked the blue, but the green was a clear winner.

Because this quilt is basically 2 large rectangles with a 2" sashing strip and 2" borders (and triangles on the ends), it whipped up in no time! 

I opted to do free-motion loop-d-loops as the stitching pattern. As you can see (below) the green thread pretty much disappears into the quilt, and the stitching really is only prominent with strong side-lighting.

For the binding, I had a scrap of dark turquoise solid homespun (same type of fabric as the green edging).  It didn't EXACTLY match the darker fern leaves, but was close enough, and because it doesn't actually sit right up against the leaves, your eye accepts the binding as matching the ferns.

And here it is, the finished table runner on my friend's picnic table:

 Here's a closeup of the binding and stitching:

Table runners are a great "fast" project. I'm hoping to many more of them!