spring table runner

I sewed a cheerful spring table runner for my mother-in-law's birthday gift based on the 9-patch technique I used with my own winter table runner a few years ago. After sewing together patches using 9 squares, you cut those patches into quarters and then rearrange them to make a new design. Unfortunately the directions I originally followed are no longer online so I just made measurements from my table runner and went from there.

I was lazy about pinning the 3 layers together and had some serious misfortune with the backing shifting while I was quilting it together. I thought it would not matter much on such a small piece but I was indeed mistaken. I was able to patch the back together – luckily the fabric design was forgiving – but I was quite annoyed with myself. Lesson learned for next time!

For a lovely zero-waste wrapping solution I simply rolled it up and tied it with a scrap of matching fabric!

Whereupon I complete winter tablerunner in the spring…

At long last I have completed my winter-themed table runner! The one I envisioned for use in January and February. That seems to be how it goes with me and my projects!

I made some serious binding blunders. No fault of the lovely binding instructions I was following from blogger Crazy Mom Quilts. I would go into detail but then I would have to explain what exactly I was thinking when I did what I did and I can't say I am very sure. I think part of my problem was that I was referencing a second set of instructions from a book. I guess the important thing is that I rescued the project and still have a functional table runner in the end.

I ended up doing the quilting just around the little red squares and then around the border. This is fairly minimal but I think it works for this design. I have yet to get all brave and freehand and twirly with my quilting designs. Someday perhaps!

Table runner in progress…

So I am following this tutorial and am super-excited to discover this 9-patch quilt trickery. The tutorial calls for three fabrics and you make one type of square, cut it apart, mix it up in a way you like and repeat.

Well, I had four fabrics to work with: a red, a mostly white, and two different teals. Let's call them "tile teal" and "big flower teal." So I decided I would make two kinds of patches instead of one. Every patch would have the red and white. Half the patches would use "tile teal" and the other half would use "big flower teal." Since my table is longer, I ended up doing three 9-patch squares of each mix.

When I got to the part where you cut them apart and mix them up, my thought was to still keep the pieces with their original partners. But then I thought, what if I swapped two of the four pieces from the "tile teal" 9-patch with two from the "big flower teal" 9-patch? It was more complicated to mix the two teals but it opened up way more design options.

First try: rotated so teals are together in center as block.
Not crazy about the 2 small red squares that end up next to each other.

Second try: I do like the little reds in the middle and the diagonal blocks.

Final choice: Put the "big flower teal" blocks in the center since they
are so much more dominant than the "tile teal."

So where am I at? Well, I have the top all together. I have the batting cut out. I need to quilt. And I need to make and attach the binding. A pleasant afternoon of work but one I am saving for the weekend. By the end of the day I feel like I am apt to make mistakes with my tired brain and eyes!