Low Volume Table Runner

Remember last week when I showed you some pictures of a low volume table runner I was making? Well I got the whole thing quilted and bound the next day. Pictures? Of course.

 This is the runner, spread out on the glass topped coffee table in our living room. I love having a runner on that table and I need to make a few more. Maybe a Christmas one?

 After I got all the strip sets put together as one, and pin basted, I began to do some straight line quilting. I did some random width lines. Thick and thin.

 Then, of course the binding had to be neutral too, so as to blend in with the top.

But the back is much more colorful. And of course, there is my label. I am really loving the look of this. I will see you soon.

Learning Something Surprising

So I was a bit surprised when I learned something about myself this week. Let's go back in time to the beginning of the year, shall we? I wanted to try something new, for the new year. I decided to try Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery Quilt. We were given one clue per week, and a week to make all the pieces. I wast using only stash fabrics, and mostly scraps at that. It started out well enough.

I made blocks, and joined the link ups every week, for the first 4 weeks. But after the first week, it became a struggle. I wasn't having much fun and it was stressing me out a bit, with the other projects I was working on. Week 5 did me in. I couldn't get the blocks to turn out the correct size and I didn't have Bonnie's special ruler, nor did I want to buy one just for this. So, I quit!

I dumped all my finished blocks into a project box and put the lid on it. I wasn't ready to toss it out just yet, but I was so angry and frustrated by it. I went ahead and downloaded all the rest of the weeks instructions so I would have them while they were offered for free. After a couple of weeks, I made the decision to just let it sit in the box for awhile. I decided that I would, eventually get back on it. Weeks went by, and then months. I would look at that box sitting there, mocking me. I put the mystery quilt on my 2019 project list, sort of a half assed commitment by me.

Then, finally last week, the time seemed to be right. I had few sewing commitments and I opened the project box. I pulled out the offending pieces and went to my computer for the directions. Reading them with clear eyes was so helpful. I was able to see what needed to be done here now. So I finished up week 5.

Next up was week 6 which was so much easier, to me. I had to make strip sets and sub-divide them. They were to be made from low volume fabrics. That is not something I have a ton of in my stash or scraps. I did a cursory search, and found only a few. I walked away for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. For me, this quilt had been, in part about not buying any fabrics.

I went back into my stash bins. I slowly and carefully went through all my scraps. They began piling up on the ironing board. By the time I was done, I was so surprised at what I had. I pressed everything flat and began cutting and sewing.

 This is what I had. I sub divided all the strip sets to the proper size, and stacked them in the project box. Now, you would think that I would be ready for step 7, but you would be wrong. While I was making these strip sets, something happened to me. I fell in love with the look of the low volume strips. I wanted to make more! So I did, and I must tell you I still didn't run out of low volume scraps.

      These are some of my newly sub divided strip sets that went into the project box.

I began joining the rest of the strip sets to make a table runner! I really had to work to figure out how to join these. I cut some and turned some around until the whole thing was done. It now sits, pin basted on my table. Today, I will begin quilting it.

My whole point to this post was how time and distance from a project taught me so much. Rushing to keep up was tough, but taking time to settle things made such a difference and I got a new table runner from the deal too. I will be back soon to show you the quilted finish. Have a great day.