A Little Bit of Quilting: Mendocino Table Runner
I'm working hard on my Spring Tops, determined to make my self-imposed challenge by next week. It's been pretty exciting, especially when I see the tops that you guys are working on showing up in the Spring Top Sewalong pool and in my inbox (remember to send me your name, top info, and blog link). You can post and send them in all next week too (for more info, click on that Sping Top button over there on the sidebar.
Plus have you seen the great bags in the Buttercup Bag pool and all of the adorable Itty Bitty Baby Dresses? There's just all kinds of creativity popping up around here. I used to try and comment on all the projects in the pools, but to be honest I simply can't keep up anymore. If you've posted one, please know that I've really enjoyed seeing it.
So since I can't show you any tops yet, here's a project I just finished (alluded to here), a quilted table runner. My apologies to those of you who actually quilt for the presumption that this actually counts as quilting; having no formal quilt training my abilities are limited at this point to rectangular pieces and machine quilting. Which, surprisingly, one can do quite a bit with actually...
There actually is no separate back piece; that polka-dotted material there is all part of one big piece that wraps around the back. I quilted the small pieces together in a line and then made it into a big tube using the polka-dots, stuck some batting in the middle, ironed it flat and folded the ends over as a sort of pseudo-binding.
The fabrics are all Heather Ross' Mendocino except for the stripe (Amy Butler Belle) and the dots (Anna Maria Horner Garden Party) and the Heather Ross Happy Campers (which is no longer available; I had a few scraps leftover from the boys' shirts).
Here are some rudimentary notes from my sewing notebook just in case you'd like to create your own:
- 14 strips: 4"x10.5" (although I ended up with 13, not 14...not sure what happened there)
- Back/side piece: 21.5"x51"
- Batting: 14x47"
Use 1/4" seams to sew all together (sew strips first, then trim, sew side seams, press)
Place batting between two sides, pin all layers. Draw zig-zag pattern on with fabric marker, sew. Stitch in the ditch along all seams. Voila!
