Last year I gave my friend Lil a Christmas table runner as a gift. She loved it and not long ago confessed that almost a year later she's still using it! When she asked if I'd do another, how could I refuse?
I invited her to browse through my scraps box and see if there was anything she liked. She had no trouble finding some salmon and mint scraps which would go very well with her dining room colours:
There wasn't quite enough there to make a runner the size she wanted, so I did have to buy a fat quarter piece to be sure and have enough - but for the most part, this table runner is just from scraps. I fiddled around and finally came up with this design - on-point squares:
For the quilting, I used cream thread
(which pretty much fades into the pale green edges). Keeping it simple, I did stitch-in-the-ditch
(with the help of a ruler) going around the squares. The pale mint triangles on the edge, however, needed something a little more complex. I've done a little bit of free-motion, and after practicing making leafy-vines on some throw-away scraps, decided that was the way to go. In the photo below, you can see the wavy vines and leaves:
I have to admit it was nerve-wracking to quilt that design. Once I got started, I realized the cream thread I'd chosen really does fade/blend into the pale mint fabric - so much so that it was nearly impossible to see the stitching, looking straight down. You can see the stitching in the photo aboe because the light is casting shadow. But looking straight down in bright light... no. The stitching is almost invisible. EEK! But it turned out fine.
The photo below shows the backing
(solid mint homespun) and the cream stitches are a lot easier to see here.
And here's the final runner - binding fabric is the same as the backing.
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| 2017 - 13.5" x 71" - quilted on the longarm (free motion and ruler) - cotton batting | | | | |
I'm very encouraged with this bit of free-motion quilting. I'll certainly be doing more of it from here out!
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