TABLERUNNERS ARE A GOOD WAY TO........

............practice longarm machine quilting skills.

I can put together a tablerunner top in an hour or two

and load it on the longarm system.

For the center I did a 1" diagonal grid going first one way and then the other way.

Since the center fabric is so dark and busy I didn't think a lot of

detail quilting would show, so the grid was a nice option and I got to practice my straight lines.

I treated the narrow inner border and the wider outer border as one unit.

I quilted arches down the length and then added beadboard stitching between the arches.

I like how they look.

Now....I'm not sure why....I did a simple beadboard on each end border.

There must have been a reason for that but not sure what it is.

Even so....it still looks great!

For the backing I used a lovely Moda fabric.

It has holly leaves and berries and the binding matches perfectly.

So the front is autumn themed with pumpkins, acorns and fall leaves.

Turn it over and its Christmas.

Its a reversible double season tablerunner.

Ok...........now onto my next project.......hmmm....What could it be?

Here is a sneak peek.............

Happy stitching everyone!

STRIP PIECED TABLERUNNER...........

                                 ............IN AN ASSORTMENT of fall and autumn hued fabrics.

I have an awful large amount of scraps and I store them by color in bins

underneath the longarm system for easy accessibility.

Every once in a while I like to mindlessly sew strips together and

make tablerunners.

I say mindlessly because there is not a lot of thinking or measuring involved in

making simple tablerunners.

There are 25 ...1" strips across the center of this tablerunner so I used

increments of five and did some ruler work.

No rhyme or reason to the design, just some V shapes and then arches in between.

A view of the back....which is a cute candy corn pattern.

This tablerunner is reversible.

Use the candy corn side for October and Halloween and then turn it over

and use the striped side for Autumn and Thanksgiving.

My big wooden crate full of dried gourds came in handy for these photos!

Being a shop owner I always have to be a few months ahead of the seasons.

My next project is a more formal autumn tablerunner.

I'm off to the happy quilter's loft to load it

on the longarm system right now!

Until next time........

Happy stitching everyone!

TABLETOPPER REDONE.............

 .................INTO A WALLHANGING OR COUCH THROW.

First...see the lace around the edge....that had to come off!

There is no batting in the layers but there is a pieced top and a backing.

It was hand quilted with a big stitch just enough to hold the layers together.

A label on the back identified the maker as Peggy F_____.

I don't want to put her full name in case she doesn't want her name on the net.

Also....there are places that are stiff where I believe a spray adhesive was used.

Which led me to think it was never washed.

This is the before.............

 ..................and after the longarm magic.

See how it hangs funny on the left side? Well....when I loaded the quilt on my longarm system, I make sure it is straight across the top.

So I'm going along, happily quilting and rolling, quilting and rolling....

I get to the bottom of the quilt and it is a good two inches or more longer on the left side....WHAT????

Do I leave it or do I trim it?

I decided to leave it.....trimming it would have made the border look awkward...6" on one side and then tapering down to 3" on the other.

I don't know....what would you have done?

 A little detail.

This was hard to quilt because there seemed to be too much fabric.

Maybe that's why the one side was too long.

I had to work in the extra so my plan to do geometric ruler work wouldn't look that good.

 Some more detail.

I used cotton batting and another backing because I wasn't going to spend the time to remove the hand quilting. My longarm handled it beautifully. Even thru the stiff adhesive

And the back...

Love the texture.

I hope my client loves it.

What a difference.

I have already loaded another quilt on the longarm from the same client.

This is one she inherited and its from the early 1900's and it shows.

So until next time...........

HAPPY QUILTMAKING!!!

FALL QUILTED TABLERUNNER

I made this tablerunner for fall. It took just a couple hours to put together and then an hour or so to quilt. I will have patterns and kits available this weekend in Christmas colors. I will post a pic when its done. The pictures do not do it justice, the colors are more crisp and contrasting in person.