Valentine Table Runner Completed

It's finished, but before I show you, I have to share this. Just as I was about to finish the looping meander in the background of one of the big hearts, I ran out of bobbin thread.

AND I nearly ran out of top thread! All at the same time!

The top thread held out just long enough to finish the area. And finally, here's a half-shot of the finished Valentine table runner, which I'm calling Love Birds for now:

And a detail of the birds:

I think they turned out very lovely dovey, which was the plan. This was my first time using 12 wt cotton thread for embroidery and I'm not sure I'm 100% pleased with it. But I think it will do, so I'm calling this project COMPLETED! Hope you enjoyed following along...watch for the pattern in the February/March 2014 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts!

Machine Quilting with Freezer Paper

I admit it...I have markaquiltaphobia. I don't like to make marks on a finished quilt top for machine quilting. I'm always worried I won't be able to get the marks out, or that I'll need to do a complete washing to get rid of them. I've tried marking lines with masking tape, sewing through vellum marked with quilting designs, anything to avoid marking on the quilt itself. But the method I like best involves quilting around freezer paper shapes. I got the Valentine table runner ready for this technique today.

First I pressed heart shapes and partial shapes cut from freezer paper to the pieced part of the runner:

Then I layered with backing and batting, and basted by pinning through each heart and partial heart shape:

All ready to quilt around the shapes! More soon.

Valentine Project Ready to Quilt and Bind

This evening I pieced a backing for the Valentine table runner and pieced and pressed the binding. Everything's ready for layering, basting, quilting, and binding! I'm excited because I have a five-day weekend coming up and I'll get to spend time working on it. Did I mention the due date is the day after Labor Day? Yikes. I think I'll outline quilt the appliqué, and then fill the background hearts with some small pattern. I've done a lot of meander stitching so that's a possibility, but I'd like to try something a little more special. Maybe hearts and loops? In the pieced center section, I may go with more heart shapes. Can't have too many hearts on Valentine's Day, right? After I've got it quilted I'll add embroidered bird legs and eyes. And then it will be finished. I'll soon need a new project!

Stitching Fused Appliqué Edges

Wow, it's been a busy day in my sewing space! First I cut fat quarters from all the block fabrics in the Quick Quilts sampler so we can photograph how a kit will look. With 35 different fabrics, that took about an hour. Then I got to work edge stitching the love birds and hearts on the Valentine table runner. I used red rayon thread for a little shine, and really enjoyed the process. Not as much as hand appliqué, but since it's fused shapes for Quick Quilts, machine blanket stitch worked just fine and helped define the edges of the shapes. I also took photos as I went so I could add a page here with tips for machine blanket stitch. Here's the end of the table runner now:

And here's a little closer shot:

Now the reward...a home pedicure and pink polish!

Valentine Ready to Appliqué

Well, what do you think?

Here's the other end:

The runner is ready for appliqué stitching! Everything is fused down and stable. I'll do edge stitching, then quilt and bind the whole runner (not sure yet what fabric I'll use for binding), then add embroidered bird legs and eyes. Pretty good progress if I do say so myself. Hope your weekend was restful and rejuvenating!

A Super Saturday

I got a lot done today so far, most notably the binding for the Quick Quilt sampler (pieced from lots of the fabrics leftover from making blocks) and the background piece for the Valentine table runner (detail above). I decided the background needed a little more piecing than just a grid of 4" squares, so I mixed them up with some four-patches, incorporating the white/pink dot that will be the hearts at the ends of the runner. It sparkles a bit now. I also added panels of plain white at either end, to be a base for the appliquéd hearts. The plain white will be trimmed even with the hearts later. It's so much fun to solve the little puzzles that come up as you try to make something that you're designing as you go. For example, I had to decide on which fabrics would go into the patchwork. I could have carefully color-coordinated, but I liked the mix of true pinks, blue pinks, lavender pinks, and orange pinks. Seems way more yummy to me.
Also today I created a page here with an English paper piecing tutorial. Hopefully it will be helpful for somebody. At any rate, I learned a lot trying to organize it. Altogether, a super Saturday!

Progress on the Table Runner Design

Now that I have a design I like pretty well, I'm excited about making the Valentine table runner again. Good thing, too...I need to make serious headway on construction this weekend. Due date is September 1! Also on the weekend schedule: make binding for the Quick Quilts sampler and finish combining the 6 parts of a series quilt pattern into a single pattern, a process that usually takes the better part of a very focused day. Plus find time for some self-care (I need a pedicure!) and laundry and the other usual weekend chores. I'd better get some sleep...early morning tomorrow!

Designer's Block

I'm a bit stuck with the Valentine table runner. I've drawn at least a dozen possible layouts and none of them are making me happy. It's time to back off for the evening and do what always makes things better....hand stitching. I'm going to appliqué a couple of little blocks for my miniature quilt project, and let my mind drift. More soon!

Valentine Table Runner: Design Begins

I started working on my Valentine table runner tonight. There are still a ton of tweaks to make, but here's a sneak peek:

Lovebirds! Hope you can see them. The first question I'm working on is, symmetrical hearts or freeform hearts? Here's the same arrangement, but with freeform heart shapes:

I'm leaning towards the freeform shapes, since I want this to be a casual, fun kind of piece. Lots more decisions to make, among them:

1. Should the background be one solid strip of fabric, or have some piecing to it?
2. Try larger wings...those look a little skimpy to me. Also, the lady bird could be a bit rounder.
3. How many hearts, and in what arrangement? I'm imagining two sets of lovebirds, one at either end of the runner. The hearts can maybe make some kind of design in the center.
4. Play with different heart fabrics. I'm not so sure about these.
5. If I don't do any piecing in the background, could I work the word LOVE into the appliqué somehow?
6. Overall shape of the runner? Border(s) or no? Binding fabric?

SO much more to work on....so much more fun on the way! Opinions are welcome...just click the word "comments" below and let me know what you think.