Spring Sprouts

I made this tablerunner for the Pantone 2013 Challenge.  The color this year is emerald.  Last year it was tangerine.

It’s quilted about 1 inch apart with a long (3.2) stitch in cream thread.

The background fabric is Essex Linen in ivory. 

The backing fabric is canning jars and is reversible.  I sent this tablerunner to my sister who loves to can almost as much as me!

I machine attached the binding as usual.  I don’t know if I’ll ever hand stitch a binding ever again.

Hurry up, spring!

Traceyjay Quilts shared this diagram on Flickr that I used to make this tablerunner.

Cupcake Party!

We’re having a cupcake party for Valentines.  I made this tablerunner over the weekend for the special occasion.

It measures 54” x 14”.

I found these cute red glitter buttons at Joanns on Friday (along with a few choice cuts of Aunt Edna…).

Then I did a practice run of baking the cupcakes for the party.

Lookin’ good!   The backing fabric features even more sweet treats.

Most of the fabrics used are Heidi Grace from Joanns.  I loved making this and the kids love it even more!

Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate…

If you have a preschooler, I am sure you’ve been singing that song recently!  I saw this beautiful tablerunner which referenced this tablerunner.  I tried my best to make my own--they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

When I saw those cute little pumpkins, I knew I needed to make myself one.  And my sister-in-law asked for a fall themed tablerunner measuring exactly 13 x 33 inches, so I made her one with a border that fits to her specifications.  Ours is a little longer, probably 11 x 42 inches.

My husband wasn’t a fan of the taller pumpkins, so I think if you are going to make one, you would want shorter and squatter pumpkins.  I just joined together scraps and then made 4 small squares to make a snowball block.  I made the 4 snowball-making squares various sizes for each of the pumpkins.   Bea was even able to sew the diagonal line on each square!  She really loved helping.

Although I personally like the crazy pumpkins, I think they look better with vertical piecing.

I went with one of my smaller labels for my sister-in-law’s tablerunner.  I wrote my name and the year on the label.  This is the first time I’ve used an indelible quilt marker.  I have two larger labels with my name on them, but because this runner is kind of smallish, I wanted to use something size appropriate.   I have a few charms left from a Grand Finale pack and think I might make a few more of these.  They fun, fast, and easy!

Swaps Goodies

Today I got my fall swap package in the mail.  I sent my partner, Kim, this fall table runner, some Halloween candy, and a wristlet key fob I made.

 

The leaf fabric has a linen look I really like.

Today the mail lady Donna drove up our road and delivered these goodies Esther is modeling in the photo…a cute pumpkin bag, a tabletopper, a Halloween mug rug and new mug, and candy.  You can’t see the chocolate pretzels because Esther has already eaten them all! 

Thank you, Kim!  Everything is lovely!

I also mailed out my block for my Block Swap Adventure partner Linda yesterday.  I never took a photo of the complete block, but here is the sneak peek.  She asked for bright colors.

I really wish I had taken a photo of the whole block.  It is by far the best one I’ve made for BSA and I think it turned out really nicely.  My points were all in the right place and not cut off for once!

Here are the three blocks I’ve received so far along with two I made myself. 

I plan to make a quilt for my brother-in-law in civil war repro type fabric once I amass enough blocks.

Fall Tablerunners

 

I’ve made quite a few tablerunners lately either as gifts or for swaps.  I bought a charm pack last year and have managed to make 4 tablerunners out of it.  I can’t remember the name of the line, but it’s a Moda fabric by Sandy Gervais.

It’s backed by a brown polka dot and bound by a fantastic modern dot fabric and machine attached.  I am loving the zig zag stitch!

I made another identical runner and backed it with a great large scale fabric that I might like even better than the actual top and bound with my favorite zig zag fabric.

And here’s a view of the back—it could be reversible.

The backing was a great find at Joanns.  I only paid $1.80 a yard for it during one of their 1/2 off red tag fabric sales.  I love it!

   

I’m working on another tablerunner with the latest fall line by Sandy Gervais (of course!) called Finale.

I can’t wait to get this one done.  Hopefully in time for Halloween!

In the doghouse…

I guess my husband thought he was in trouble at home.  He brought these lovelies home on Friday, complete with a funny card.   Can you believe they actually make this card?

Truth is, my husband wasn’t in the doghouse.  We’ve just be plagued by colds and lack of sleep, so I’ve been a bit crabby.  We got out all our Halloween decorations today which improved everyone’s moods.  Esther was thrilled to hang bats and spiders on our front porch.  We don’t happen to have a mantle above our fireplace, so our piano is where I put a lot of our holiday stuff.

See those pumpkins in the bowl?  My mom and dad had a reunion yesterday and used a ton of mini pumpkins for decorations.  Trouble was, my mom wrote all over them with permanent marker.  So the girls and I spray painted a few with metallic paint we had in the garage and put glitter on a few of them. 

The fabric in the tablerunner is Pumpkins Gone Wild.  It is definitely my favorite fall fabric line of all time.   I have made several tablerunners either for swaps or gifts recently.

Table Runner for Preschool Auction

Bea, my oldest daughter, and I just finished up sewing a table runner for her preschool's annual spring auction.  I was planning a reprisal of the popular Easter bunny table runner, but I gave one of those to the charter school so I decided to do something different.  For Valentine's Day I gave Bea a set of Farmer John's fruit and vegetable fat quarters I bought at the local quilt shop.  She is now 5 and wants to (and is ready to) learn to sew.  So, we made our first project together:

The binding is finally sewn on and it looks great!  She is itching to make another one.  If I could just get the baby to stay asleep when I lay her down we could get a lot done around here.  It's kind of hard to operate the sewing machine with a baby on your shoulder:)

When Bea first showed an interest in sewing we went to Michael's and picked up one of the American Doll crafts they carry:

With this one you sew both a big and small owl plush stuffed animal (one for yourself and one for your doll).  Bea doesn't know diddly about American Dolls, but she was all over this sewing project and made the little one for her baby sister Veronica.  I highly recommend this product!  The box says for ages 8 and up, but anyone 5 or older with an adult to help read the directions and provide guidance could do it.  The only thing I didn't really like were that all the stitches were already prepunched so you'd know where to insert the needle.  I'm not sure if they were necessary, and my little girl got frustrated a lot when she couldn't get it "exactly" right.  But, all in all, it was a perfect first project and I'm sure lots of little girls out there would love to make these.  Plus--you can use the 40 or 50% off Michaels coupons on it!  It doesn't get much better than that.  It'll run you about 10 bucks with a coupon.

When I was at my LQS I picked up some fat quarters for myself, too.  They are from Eleanor Burns's Victory Garden collection that came out a couple years ago.  I know they are intended to be more patriotic than Eastery, but I will be using them for the Easter bunny tablerunners I mentioned.  I think the stars will add just the right amount of whimsy.  Notice there is one 30's repro on top---I couldn't resist!  30's repros are my major weakness!