Star Runner for Christmas

Two weeks ago I had a fabric give away in conjunction with Sew Mama Sew Give Away Day and Sunday Stash #92. I had mismatched cheater stars left over ( 2 matching and two not) and decided to make Tristan's teacher a Christmas table runner.

It turns out that she is leaving to study her doctorate in Education and I only found out about a week before school finished. So it was a bit of a rush to get it done.

I did a tiny bit of free motion quilting in the corners but mostly it was straight line quilting.

This gorgeous fabric was perfect for the back.

Sunday Stash #93

There were 14 link up last week and by far the most visited was Joanna's huge SALE haul at Riddle and Whimsy. I actually got a bit lost wandering around her fabulous blog and pinning madly.

Christmas Give Away Winner

Thank you to those who entered the 3 part give away last week. There were 57 entries. 50 of these were international entries and only 7 were Australian.

I used 4 of the mismatched cheater panels to make a Christmas runner this week.

Winner 1 - Christmas Fabric pack
Ella - Czech Grandmother now living in Australia's Snowy Mountains.

Winner 2 - Sew Seasonal Pattern bundle
Kathy Davis - Missouri "breakfast in pyjamas on Christmas day" mother

Winner 3 - Christmas Robin paper pieced pattern
Margaret - Arkansas Great Grandmother from Kolorful Scraps

I will be contacting you via email to claim your prizes.


Now to the fabric.

Sweetie Box

A delicious little box of Moda mini charms and a mini jelly roll.

It also came with a couple of suggested patterns.

Now it is your turn her for one of the last times before Sunday Stash transplants over to Molli Sparkles in 2014.

An extra day!

I had a finish this week. My very long table runner, slated for the top of my bedroom dresser, was quilted and bound. I had planned to just shadow the ditch but it meant only 4 lines of quilting  and was very lacklustre. So I went to 2 blogs for inspiration: this block by Jess of 'The Elven Garden'

 and this block by Kristy of 'Quiet Play'.

From what I can gather both ladies did 1/4 inch distances between the triangular lines, however, I wanted to keep the fabric and design soft, so I opted for nearly 1/2" distances.

I knew that I needed something geometric to give the central strip some character and texture. So, taking my trusty 6.5" ruler I set to work making the diagonals with a washable marker.

I used a walking foot.

I was afraid that it might be too stark, so I put out a call to my online Quilt Club Australia' friends for opinions. No one though it was too minimal. 

I like the use of negative space in design. I did seriously consider a small triangle opposite the point of the negative space, but thought it might like too trite.

Then I used up some scrappy binding and added some more....

and was "this close" when I ran out. Dang! Inset new piece of binding and join the ends together.

Then instead of pinning, I decided to try a bobby pin method I'd seen on Pinterest. It seemed to work quite well and much faster but next time I will put them in upsidedown.

The scrappy binding looks much better then the tone on tone brown I auditioned.

The new look dresser table top.

Beside table - his

Beside table - hers

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 1 = Scrappy "Hope"  table runner 

New projects - 1 = baste and quilt 'HR Far Far Away 2&3 Fussy Fairytales' quilt

On Hold - 1 = Feb  scrappy log cabin quilt - once all the blocks come in

Currently in progress - 1 notebook cover,
                                             - 3 dolly quilts - 2 of them are now backed, basted and ready to quilt.

I am linking up with WiP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced....lots of other goodies out there today.

'Heather Ross Far Far Away 2&3 Fussy Fairytales' quilt top ready to baste.

My mum pieced this one and she altered Kate Conklin's pattern by making the coloured frames floating and adding more blocks. It is just gorgeous and the linen blend fabrics are so nice to work with.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Last December I had made my first quilt ever. Just 2 months after buying my FIRST sewing machine, I used some scraps and put together a table runner.

My mum (who is a veteran quilter) and I were out at a fabric store and saw this  tree skirt made from Michael Miller modern Christmas prints. I have always wanted a tree skirt but not feeling confident enough my mum quilted this one for me. 

There was enough fabric left over for me to make into something else. I had just found the great tutorials on YouTube by Missouri Star Quilt Company. They had an 'adorable' quilt-a-you-go Christmas table runner that I followed to make one for my table.

I had enough triangular-shaped off cuts to make bunting. You can never have too much bunting in your life. It makes me feel happy when I see it.

And then there was an unfinished quilt that my mum gave me. I was not convinced to make it into a wall hanging and so using the non-binding method, I turned it into a Christmas table cloth.

Then there are multiple other Christmas table runners and hanging quilts that my mum has made for our family.

Then there are the ones she made to give to her friends...