Friday, July 30, 2021

Table Scraps Challenge -- Finished

I'm tickled to have my July table runner challenge done.  Here's the front.

If you are participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge you know that July was a second chance at blue.  I'm pretty sure one month was suppose to be lighter blues and the other was darker.  Um... both of mine are dark blue.  Check out my previous blue table "runner" here. I started out making that one as a table runner and ended up with a wall hanging for our beach house. 

My goal this month was to use some string piecing.  Needless to say I didn't make much of a dent in any of my scraps.  But I do like the finished project. 

After the top was done I wanted to find a blue for the back.  Except, blues are a problem area for me.  I don't really have a whole lot of blues I like or the ones I like I really didn't want to cut into.  Visualize riffling through a stack of fabric or a box of fat quarters.  And, now visualize my glee when I found the perfect fabric for the backing. Only one problem.  The fabric had never been washed and I worried about bleeding. And I was right. 


I have no idea how many times I rinsed the fabric -- maybe 10 or so.  But eventually the water ran clear.  I ran it through the drier and continued onto finishing the runner.  




This fabric is a batik I purchased from one of our trips to the Caribbean.  I'm pretty sure I purchased this fabric in the Bahamas probably 20 years ago.  I had about just enough to use it as the backing of this table runner. I trimmed off some of the border on the short edges so it would fit.

My quilting was done from the front but really doesn't ruin the lobsters and turtles. 

Remember the discussion above -- that I don't have a great selection of blues?  I could find nothing to use for a binding. So I trimmed the piece so that there was an even amount of fabric in the front and back.  Then I flipped the front fabric up and trimmed a half inch off the back and batting. 

Next I ironed a 1/4" seam around the top and folded it over the backing. It was totally finished after the hand stitching.  Weird, I know.  But that's what I did.  I doubt it is all that obvious.  Bonus -- I can use both sides of the runner. 

Here's a different view. (These railings lead to the basement where my studio is.)  You can enlarge these photos.  I did outline quilting around the stars.  And lines on the strings.  The center string section I used a wavy line (actually one of the stitches on my Bernina.) 

I'm happy to have a navy blue runner to use since my other one is going to be hanging on the wall at the beach house once we visit again! 

Friday is a busy time for linky parties.  I'm linking up with a lot of them. Quilt FabricationNeedle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, Table Scraps Linky Party, and Scrap Happy Saturday. Phew!  That's a lot of linky parties.  But I love to see what everyone is working on. Ok, not everyone but a lot of people participate so I do see a lot of projects! I hope you spend some time surfing too. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 
 

13 comments:

  1. Nice runner. The string stars are wonderful. I rarely use strings, but I may need to change my ways. Did you add vinegar to the rinse water? It can help stop the dye from bleeding. It works great when dyeing wool yarn.

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  2. Awesome runner, Bonnie! Great job hanging in there until the water ran clear. What a fun memento!

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  3. I love that runner and the fabric you chose for the backing! Wow! Have a great weekend!

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  4. Beautiful runner, and the perfect backing fabric! Well worth rinsing ten times. And your binding isn't weird, it's historic! Quilts have been bound this way for 200 years or more. Nice job.

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  5. Those are some pretty shades of blue, and your backing is perfect for it. Your binding-well it just shows that there are more than one way to do things;)

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  6. Your table runner is just beautiful. That batik!! It's perfect and a nice reminder of the Caribbean. I love the way you did the binding and that it is reversible.

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  7. Two of my favorites! stars and turtles!!!! Great job on your Table Scraps!!!

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  8. Love the Blue and you did a great job. I love batiks! Hugs

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  9. Some fabrics really just keep letting the dye go, your batik was probably hand done I expect and they can be difficult. You got there in the end luckily, lovely runner.

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  10. Great runner; that's such a good idea - using strings to make the centre squares.

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  11. This is AWESOME!! Love your string star blocks!! what a great idea! but that backing... that is just PERFECT!! Glad you thought about bleeding tho!! good call!

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  12. Thank you for linking up with the July 2021 TABLE SCRAPS Challenge, Bonnie! What a great use for some of your Dark BLUE string-y scraps. Enjoy (both sides of) your new runner!

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  13. Very pretty table runner. Thanks for sharing how you sewed the binding on. Keep going with those string blocks!

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