Table Runners

I liked my nutcracker table runner across my breakfast table so much that I decided to try my hand at making a few for other times.  

We usually keep the little spinning basket on that table so I worry that it may scratch it at some point if someone is a little careless with it. Having a table runner on there takes care of that concern.

And it can make a pretty cute seasonal decoration that is fairly easy to make room for. Win win.

In February, I gave piecing these heart blocks a try.

The concept is easy if you've ever drawn a picture using graph paper (or cross stitched anything). You start with a bunch of rectangles and squares of different sizes.

Which you then sew on strategically.

And which will magically become a heart.

Then, if you're really good, you will sew all of them together in such a way that they still look like hearts. 

I'm not so good.

And you'll add some really cute Valentine's fabric on the back that would allow you to use whichever side suits your fancy. 

(And then, of course, you just bind the edges for your new table runner. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the finished product before it made its way to the Valentine's bin in the attic.) I think this was a free project pattern from Dear Stella fabrics but can't seem to find the link. I'll update it if I find it again.

Also, you might purchase, at the same time, some really cute St. Patrick's day fabric to make a shamrock version and then not manage to get it made before St. Patrick's day is over.

Nevertheless, I carried on. I decided to make a spring version for April & May (although it occurs to me now that I could do a Star Wars theme for May 4th). 

So, I picked through my stash and found any fabric that was sort of bright with small flowers on it. Then I used a quilt-as-you-go tutorial I came across and made a basic quilted runner.

It wasn't as nice and neat as I hoped but I'm still getting the hang of it. My mom, who was visiting for Rugrat's spring piano recital, commented that it was pretty and seemed impressed that I had made it. So I'm gonna run with that. You can check out the tutorial for it here. I was pretty annoyed with my binding. I didn't take as much time as I should have and I feel like it shows. Other than that I'm happy enough with it.

Memorial day was coming up and Independence day will be here before we know it so I decided to go patriotic. Particularly after I came across this free tutorial. I'm really pleased with how it came out.

You start with the stars.

Then come the stripes.

Then you put them all together. This was the point at which I got concerned. I had just finished trying to make a prayer quilt for our congregation and I have such troubles getting the squares to meet up where they are supposed to. If you look too closely at this one, you can see that I had issues but it turned out better than the prayer quilt, so again, I'm gonna run with that.

Finally, I added a bright red binding (which I also had to fight with of course) and she's done.

I'm still pretty pleased with it and putting the basket on there kind of camouflages any flaws. I think anyway. If not, don't tell me.

Now, I have to figure out which one to do next. I guess the next season will be fall although I could probably do something summer like for kicks too. 

Feel free to comment any suggestions you have too.