Two Valentine table toppers to dress up a table or two for V-Day!
The smaller one has split hearts, done in bright shades of pink and red…
Quilted in echo straight lines and a meander in the outer border…
and a lovely imported fabric from Bunte Fabrics on the back…
It measures approximately 14″ x 28″. And is available for purchase in the shop.
The second one is made in slightly more muted tones, a lovely Timeless Treasures paisley border…
a vintage postcard novelty print background, soft pinks and reds… 
a solid pink Kona cotton backing….
and it, too, is available in the shop.
Happy Valentine’s Day (February 14th will be here before we know it…) and happy creating!
Tag Archives: runner
A Runner Tutorial…and a WINNER!
Need a quick-and-dirty gift that doesn’t look so quick-and-dirty? This is NOT my design, someone showed me recently how to make these, based on a free pattern they were given at their guild meeting. I thought it was one nifty technique…
Start with a 1/2 yard (by width-of-fabric/WOF) of your backing material and 1/3 yard (by WOF) of your top. (I think these are both Marcus Brothers fabrics, they came from my stash…)
With right sides together, stitch along one long edge:
I then pressed my seam open, but you can just keep sewing if you want to. Stitch along second long side with a 1/4″ seam allowance, forming a “tube” with your fabric:
Press seams, and then turn right side out. Fold your “tube” in half, lengthwise, with your backing fabric inside the fold, and your top fabric on the outside. Sew a 1/4″ seam on both short ends:
Press each end seam open…
Then turn the point out and press well:
Your table runner is essentially finsihed at this point, with only a few minutes of construction time! No batting used, it would make the points too heavy, but you could use a flannel batting or an interfacing stabilizer to edge a little weight to your runner.
A few finish ideas (because the triangle flap is left open): Sew buttons at the seam on your end triangles; Top-stitch around the backing fabric to keep it flap even when washing; Quilt it; Use a decorative stitch from your machine to dress-up the edge; Or, apply applique…
I free-handed a few maple leaves and did a raw edge fused applique on each end. I then finished up by top-stitiching around the center rectangle in dark brown thread. I made this for my Autumn Giveaway, and I’ll be sending along a charm pack of “Blessings” by Brannock and Patek (for Moda).
Drumroll….pleeassseeee….. The Random Number Thingy tells me is Kali, an awesome photographer! I’ve sent you an email Kali, congrats…
Thanks for playing along, for all your kind words and for your engagement stories (FUN!)….
What I did Friday night….
A sweet little friend of mine, a Princess, as a matter of fact, turned 3 years old on Saturday. So on Friday, I rushed to my peasant home (condo) after a day of toiling in the fields (office), pulled out these pink and purple trimmings….
and made her this Royal table runner…
and this Royal Banner (it’s five feet across)….
Then headed to the castle to help the mother and grandmother of the Princess decorate the Royal Dessert that would be served to her loyal subjects the following day….
We started by carefully creating 340 pink Forget-Me-Nots…
With which to decorate the Royal Confection…
A to-scale-recreation of her Royal Palace…
And after just four short hours, just before the clock struck Midnight, our Royal task was complete. I’ve no doubt we tackled our task with any less care for detail than the decorator of her Wedding cake will demonstrate!
The cake was set out the following day for her loyal subjects to parade past and admire while paying their respects to the Princess….
Not wanting to light the confectionary castle afire for the Making of a Wish, I decorated a special Tiara cake to hold the Royal torches.
The young princess had a glorious day of celebration…here she is unveiling her gifts with poise and grace, dressed in her finest robes…
After sharing cake and ice cream with her loyal subjects, she took a… (ahem….) beauty break….
a mudbath on the Royal grounds. It is hard work being a Princess, after all…
Coffee, anyone?
I made this quick little Christmas gift for a friend who popped to mind when I first saw this coffee themed fabric:
Here’s the back:
She and I have traveled together, and roomed together at various Quilt Retreats over the last five years and she’s admittedly a little grumbly in the morning until she gets her coffee. She’s been known to manipulate and bribe me to go retrieve her coffee for her, just like her hubby does for her at home.
I quilted three little coffee mugs into each end of the runner, and quilted the rest with stippling and shadow quilting:
I hope you are enjoying having it on your table! I received a coffee related gift myself, in our small group grab bag exchange. This potholder and coffee cozy were made by Veronica:
Perfectly my colors, and I love the linen/cotton mix! Beth revealed our almost quilted American Heart Association quilt, that I told you about in November:
It will be auctioned off at the Des Moines AHA Gala in February. Great job on the quilting, Beth!
Haunted Hexagons
One might get the impression I’ve become a little obsessed with hexagons, but the truth is, this project was suggested to me, and done as a sample for the shop. Thus the Halloween project post on the heels of Independence Day.
This is the full shot of the sneak peek I shared with you following last weekend’s retreat…
It is a LARGE table runner (24″ x 56″) made from this book from Anka’s Treasures:
Instead of using 2.5″ strips, I used the striped fabric from this line for Lyndhurst Studios by Northcott. It’s called Trick or Treat Street and is by designer Sheri Beary.
There is a lot of variety in the stripe coordinate I used, so each block is very different…
I adore these silly little ghosts with their names running along the edge of the stripe.
The orange gingham style fabric I used for the accent blocks is actually from a civil war reproduction line…not sure what line or company it is, but it was a perfect orange for the “tangerine flavored” oranges in the striped fabric.
This is what I used for the backing, from my stash purchased sometime last fall. I love Halloween color combinations and imagery. The quilting was done with a black/grey/white variegated thread…just a simple outline around the pieced hexagons, and a spider web in the orange accent blocks. I’m pretty happy with the way this one turned out. Only now, I need a larger table to display it, my table is a small drop-leaf vintage table that only extends to maybe 42″ x 42″ at it’s largest…I’m sure I can find another way to display this though! Or, maybe I need to make a smaller one and give the big one away as a gift….
Week Five Creative Clips
I managed to squeeze in a little sewing time this week, amidst my new workout schedule, working two jobs, babysitting my nephew, and spending time with my sweetie. I made a little progress on the Valentine projects…
A small wall hanging (or table runner)
A slightly larger table runner…I adore the Love Letter fabric used on this one…if only I had more of it…sigh.
And of course, Katy’s block that I blogged about yesterday…
and from my scraps, some nine-patch blocks for V’s Charity Quilt Project:
made by a brunnette 