Finished: a winter table runner

 

It all started with a visit to St. Louis last summer to stay with my friend, Sandy. After catching up on our lives and other news, she posed what I thought was an innocent question, but turned out to be anything but.

“So, have you been doing any quilting lately?” she asked.

“Yes, I just finished a large quilt for my bed,” I replied, not seeing the “Danger, Will Robinson” signs screaming all around me in flashing neon.

“Great! I want you to make a table runner out of this holiday fabric I have for Vee (her daughter),” said Sandy. “She wants one, and I hate to quilt. I’ve got the fabric right here. It shouldn’t take long at all.”

It was game over at that point. She had me, and there was no getting out of it. Since I was a guest in her home, I could hardly refuse, especially when I couldn’t come up with a good reason fast enough after saying I’d just finished something.

Sandy didn’t give me any direction other than to make it modern in style. So far, so good. But she only gave me four pieces of fabric, two of which were practically the same, and I was determined to make something that I could finish quickly using only those four.

Enter Pinterest. I remembered  seeing a number of holiday quilts that used strips and half-square triangles to create blocks that looked like wrapped presents. I then went to InDesign and drew the blocks so I could determine the best proportions, ones that I could use with my Accuquilt Go! Cutter to speed things even further. Each present block finishes at 9×12 inches. The strips are 1 inch finished and the half-square triangles are 2 inches finished.

(If you’re looking at the picture up top, you’ll have to decide which of the long strips you’ll do in one piece and which you’ll have to cut. I realized that once I started piecing!)

The blocks came together pretty quickly, which I followed up with some basic stipplin after outlining the ribbon and bow. Then I used the alternate striped print for the binding, which is my favorite part of the whole thing.

I’ll admit, I grumbled a bit while working on this. But, the good news is Vee loved the tablerunner, and I got a great design for a runner of my own.

xoxo,
Sandra