Last Table Scraps Challenge Runner

Do you ever wait to the very last minute to finish a project?  You know, the one you are sewing binding on on Christmas Eve?  Well that was me this week when I decided I was going to make an October runner in bright and light greens.  I knew I wanted to use an Accuquilt die.  I knew I wasn't going to make it huge. I even had a fabric I liked for the back (and actually used on the front too.) 

On the left is what I first came up with. I cut out rectangles and played with them. I finally came up with what is shown below. Thursday I threw it on Ruthie and quilted two rows on it. That night I hand stitched the binding to the back. Today it was time for pictures...but it has been pouring rain nearly the whole day.  I decided I'd take pictures in the "sun" room sans sun.  And, surprise! It worked pretty well. 

And the back. Oops, that color is so wrong!  The back is the same fabric as between the turquoise strips.

I'm not planning on making any more table runners this year.  I think the Rainbow Scrap Challenge leaves the last two months without a color so quilters can sew their blocks into tops and tops into quilts.  I still have one block on my RSC friendship stars to sew.  And then, it's on to sewing a top. 

Last week a couple of friends went with me to Material Girls Quilt Boutique in La Plata, Maryland.  I was picking up my Bernina after her spa treatment.  After shopping and a nice lunch we were ready to take the leisurely country drive back to our neighborhood. (About 70 minutes or so away.)  We were surprised to see the Scarecrow Festival in La Plata.  On various streets there were displays.  I snapped pictures of two of them. 

The silly scarecrow.

And the scary. 

It might have been fun to drive up and down the streets to see more but it was time to head home. 

This past Monday I was lucky enough to catch the peak of fall foliage in our neighborhood.  Doesn't this just say fall is here?

I haven't driven by this scene since Monday, but I suspect it is no longer this pretty.  Other trees are looking mostly dull yellow for the most part. Is fall still showing beautiful colors where you live? 

Here are links to my favorite late week parties: 

Midweek Makers

Needle and Thread Thursdays

Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant

Table Scraps Challenge October Linky Party

That's enough for now!  I'm ready to sew a label on a quilt and have another finish.  I probably won't show it until next Friday.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

September Table Scraps Challenge -- DONE!

Orange is the color for September Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge.  I decided I would try to make a table runner using my 4.5" tumbler die.  It's a great size to use scraps.  (In fact, the quilt that has been waiting for the long arm to be repaired is a tumbler using some of my doggy fabric. Inside info -- the parts came and I finished that little quilt.) 

I started cutting one piece from all the orange scraps that would fit on the die. Um, that wasn't enough.  So I started looking at the few leftover charm packets I have.   I finally found enough although I did have to cut into some of my yardage.  Isn't it great? Yea orange! 

My oranges go from very light peach to dark rust and from gold to bright orange.  When this was all done I realized my stack of orange fabrics needs some additions.  (But that is for another day.) The inspiration for this was a table runner Sherri, who writes about quilting at A Quilting Life, showed recently on an AccuQuilt Live event.  Shortly afterwards she wrote a whole post about making tumbler table runners.  So anyone who wants to make one check this blog post.

I found an old piece of Halloween fabric to use as the back.  I had to piece the it so it would fit. The plan was to do free motion stipple on my domestic machine.  My first try the tension was off even though I tested it.  Ugh.  Rip, rip, rip.  My second try it started out ok but my free motion skills are totally rusted.  And the tension whacked out.  More ripping.  Eventually I decided that if I ever wanted to finish this I needed to try something else. So I set up the walking foot and did the "organic" lines.  It worked pretty well.  

It's almost October and I'm wondering what color we'll be working with and what type of runner I can make next.  

Here's one last look at it. 

Up next will be to trim and bind the doggy tumbler quilt.  Then, I need to quilt a new quilt that's sitting on Ruthie.  And I have great hope to quilt 2 quilts before I head off on Thursday for retreat.  If I succeed I'll pass them off to a friend from Maryland who attends the retreat and she'll pass them on to the guild.  Lots to do in very few days. (Good thing I've already kitted up a couple of quilts.) 

Here are the linky parties to check out: 

Needle and Thread Thursdays

Can I Have a Whoop, Whoop? 

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant 

Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge Linky Party

Scrap Happy Saturday 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

A Friday Finish: Aqua Table Scraps Challenge

I'm late getting this posted as I finished it over last weekend.  It's always nice to have a finish -- even if it is small.

Without further ado here's my finished August Table Scraps Challenge runner.

I decided to use my Accuquilt Go Cutter and the 9" Cube.  I picked a pattern I liked, picked the fabrics and got on it.  I really like aqua, teal, turquoise the whole realm of blue greens.  Surprisingly I don't have all that much fabric in those colors.  Hum, I wonder if I use them a lot?  Could be. 

The block design is called Louisiana. It's basically 4 flying geese with 4 rectangles.  I chose to put these on point as I had just purchased a die called Setting Triangles - 9" Finished.  It's actually a design that will cut the setting triangles on the side and the smaller ones on both sides at the top and bottom.  Since I have the 9" cube it seemed like a reasonable add on for me. 

Did you noticed the floor? We've had a portion of our back deck turned into a 3 seasons room. (Or maybe I should call it a sun room.)  We've had wonderful weather for the past few days -- low humidity and temps below 80.  So much nicer than the high humidity and 95+ degrees.  The window and door in the great room open on to the sun room.  We've opened both and the windows in the new room.  It is wonderful with a nice breeze circulating.  We still need some electrical work done (and inspected) and to have the floor installed. And then add some furniture -- which luckily we already own!  

Back to the table runner....

Hum, I'd agree that the table runner is flat out best! (Of course, all the table runners I've made this year are flat out best!) 

Here's a peek at the backing too. As usual all of this fabric came from stash. It feels so good to use stash especially a few pieces I really like.  I'll enjoy seeing this runner on my table. 

Late but happy to share my August Table Runner with everyone. 

I'm linking up with a bunch of blogs today. Please take some time to visit these Linky Parties to find links to lots of great blogs. Here's the list: Midweek Makers,  Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, and Beauties Pageant. Hopefully I'll remember to link up Saturday to SOScrappy for the weekly RSC party.  

Enjoy your weekend!  I need to keep cutting pieces to make kits for the upcoming retreat. (Less than 3 weeks now!) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

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 Fabrication, Needle 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 
 

Table Scraps Challenge -- Purple

It's the day before the last Saturday in June.  Do you know what that means?  Yep, time to share my Table Scraps Challenge piece for purple June.   Once again I decided to do a table runner AND to use Accuquilt dies that I've hardly used.   

Here are the dies I decided to use. These were part of a companion set for my 9" Cube.  These dies are no longer available in either of the current cube companion sets.  But you can get different sized Drunkard's Path dies if you have a Accucut cutter.  Mine are 5" cut, finished at 4.5". 

I made the blocks and then tried to decide how I would put them together. This arrangement was chosen. It was fun turning the quarter circles around trying to find a pleasing design.  I decided to add the corner triangles to get a different look for the border. Although this design is not in the book, I did get a lot of inspiration from John Kubiniec's book, A New Spin on Drunkard's Path.

As usual, I quilted this on my Bernina 635 with a walking foot.  I used a magenta colored Mettler PolySheen top thread with a Mettler cotton in the bobbin. 

I pulled a piece of fabric I've had for years (and years!) for the backing. I was happy to use it and I like the way it compliments the front. Oh yes, all fabric was from stash! 

We are only 6 months through the year long Table Scraps Challenge. I'm having a lot of fun making these small quilts and enjoying trying things I doubt I'd try on a larger quilt.  I wonder what our next color is going to be.  

Here's my list of linky parties for the weekend: Midweek Makers, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop,  Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, Scrap Happy Saturday, and The Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge.  Wow. That's a lot of linky parties.  Enjoy seeing what is happening with quilters across the Internet. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

A bit of technical info -- I find that my photos look great after I edit them in my Photos on my Mac.  But once I finish and publish my post they get darker.  Today I made an effort to really lighten and brighten my photos.  I'll evaluate this attempt after I post my blog.  Maybe they will have just the right lightness to make them look great. 

May Table Scraps Topper

How can a month be both short and long?  That's what May seems to have been to me.  And, there are still 3 days left that I plan to use to finish off 2 more quilts.  Nothing like the end of the month to get me moving on my quilt finishes. 

Today I'd like to share my May Table Scraps Topper.  Yep, I shortened my table runner to just a topper. And, it is so darn cute.  Remember red is the color.  And here's my red topper. This is a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop called Confetti Stars. I don't keep my dining room table with extra leaves in so a big runner just wouldn't work.  This is jelly roll friendly although I just cut from yardage and fat quarters. It ended up 14.5" square. I left off the border and 3 more blocks.  The binding is cool red lines on white but looks really pink here.  All photos should enlarge if you click on them. 

I had just finished sewing the last of the binding on this afternoon when Pat told me a major rain and wind event would be in our yard in 27 minutes. (Don't you love the way weather reports can pinpoint our weather.)  I hustled outside as the clouds kept gathering and got a series of pictures to show off my table mat. What does it say about a quilted piece when it can stand with a little help from a plant? 

And now on point on clipped to our Japanese maple.  

It kept getting darker and the wind came up.  Time to get one pic of the back and get back inside.  I quilted on my domestic machine.  

It wasn't long after I came in that the sky was totally gray, the wind was blowing and the rain came pouring down. All my sewing machines were unplugged from power as there were suppose to be a lot of lightning strikes near us.  Heck, we were also under a tornado watch.  It poured rain for maybe 30 minutes.  And then nothing. Wait. What about the full inch we were suppose to get?  It did rain off and on for a while but I doubt if we got all that much rain.  It's too bad because areas where land isn't watered   the trees and grass look like they are dying. Hopefully we'll get some rain off and on all night.  We need it.  

I hope to start cutting a new little quilt this weekend along with finishing the two quilts currently being worked on.  I'll keep you posted. 

Now it's time to link up to late week parties.  Midweek Makers, Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant,  and May Table Scraps Challenge. Try those fun linky parties to aid in your Internet surfing.  You might find something you really want to make.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Blue Table Runner

I have worked most of this week on my blue table runner for the Table Scraps Challenge.  Those participating are making table runners, placemats, or even mug rugs using the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  I've added my own challenge to several of my projects.  This month I decided I would use one of the Accuquilt Appliqué dies I own.  (I own 5 or so but have really only used 1 of them.)  I started out this week getting the embroidery done on three squares of Kona white fabric.  I chose to use Go! Sea Life Medley die.  I also have the free embroidery files for this die. So I set up the embroidery module and got to work.  

I actually embroidered the crab first. Um, I guess it wasn't such a brilliant idea to use the variegated thread.  And, apparently it weighs differently than my usual embroidery thread as there was a lot of white bobbin thread showing on the top.  It took about an hour to do so I wasn't that interested in redoing it. The other two designs I used a thread that went with the fabric used and were done in way less than an hour. 

I added rectangles to the designs to make a square in a square block. I used RK Quilting Calc app on my iPad.  It's an older program but it works just fine.  I needed the dimensions to cut the inner squares and the outer triangles so that I would have 9" finished blocks.  It worked like a charm.  And, I could email the end results to my phone so I would have the measurements when I started to cut the fabric. 

Next up was deciding on some sort of border.  I was looking at my Go 9" Cube and realized there was a nice rectangle in it: 2.75" by 4.5."  That would do great.  I grabbed a bunch of different blues (excluding any that looked greyed.)  I didn't check to see if the die would work with the blocks but I figured they should since they were part of the 9" cube.  I was surprised that I couldn't cut a different fabric for each rectangle but apparently I have a LOT of greyed blues.  No matter two or three of each color worked just fine. 

Yep, it is difficult to get a picture of a long skinny runner. I definitely liked how it was coming together.  After the border was sewn together and on it was time to make the sandwich. Since I was going to quilt this on my domestic machine I used a red Frixion to mark the center of the design before I embroidered it.  Except, I also used a spray adhesive to hold the pieces of the sandwich together. Oops!  The cold adhesive caused the Friction ink to reappear.  A shot with the hot iron took care of it. 

On to quilting the runner. I stitched in the ditch around the white squares and also around the dark blue squares.  I carefully stitched around each appliqué.  Then I whipped out my blue tape and marked some straight line quilting on the borders and the rectangles between the designs.  I carefully marked a 1/4" from the outside edge so the quilting lines didn't get lost in the binding.  Several times I counted the rectangles to see if I had the right number so my design would come out evenly.  I was quilting diagonally from block to block going up and down.  Think of it as points \/\/\/\/ but stretched out for the length of the rectangle. Luckily it did come out just right. 

I had carefully planned out how much I would need to get done each day this week so I could post this blog on Friday evening.  This morning I was still finishing the quilting.  I sewed the binding on while FaceTiming with my friend Sharon.  I only got half of the binding hand sewn before my hands gave out.  Sorry, yes, there are some Wonder Clips on this "finished" picture.  I'll get the rest done tomorrow.  

You might have noticed that I've placed all of the fish going in one direction. Although this could actually be used as a table runner, I'm going to use it as a wall hanging either in our home or in our beach house in Nags Head.  Look at the cute holder I have to put it on. 

I still have more work to do on this table runner, wall hanging. I'll be sewing a hanging sleeve on it so I can easily put it on this hanger.  I'm also thinking of putting some buttons or beads for eyes for the crab, fish, and sea horse. 

It's time to link up with several great linky parties.  Join the fun and do a little Internet surfing this weekend. I'm linking to Midweek Makers, Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, Scrap Happy Saturday, and Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge Linky Party. Phew, that is a long list this week.  I know I'm going to love seeing what folks are working on. (Don't we all need new ideas?) 

That's it for me today.  I hope to see you on Monday for Monday Meanderings. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Green Table Scraps Is Done

Yes, I finished my table runner for the month.  I chose to do a St Patrick's day runner as I have nothing for that day. You can look at my sneak peak from Monday here. 

I used a pattern in the book Table Please, Part I by Nancy Halvorsen.  Of course, I didn't do it exactly like she designed it.  I changed the background to 3.5"cut squares.  I used a wider array of green fabrics.  Nor did I do the word Lucky that was on it. (Honestly folks, I wanted to make my life a little easier and use fabric I had in the stash.) 

Here's the finished project.  I used a lot of bits and pieces from fat quarters and scraps.  Some of the lighter greens were hand dyes I did years ago. 

On another front, we've been working on our beach house for the last several days so I decided to do some glamour pictures in the back yard. (They should enlarge if you click on any picture.) 

Isn't this a great tree?  Most of the backyard is sand with some sort of bushy clumps of grass growing.  And, let me tell you, you can not take a decent picture of a table runner on clumps of grass.  Every one looked like the runner was lumpy!  But a neat tree like this?  Perfect. (Hum, if the yard is dry tomorrow I think I'll get an overall picture of the tree.  It's a Live Oak. 

As I mentioned earlier all the fabric (and thread) was from my stash.  It was great to use of this ivy fabric -- I've had it for a while.  I still have a little left so it'll go in my fat quarter collection. 

We have been working like crazy on the beach house since Wednesday.  We haven't been here for over a year.  It was rented a lot over 2020 and we have a lot of reservations for 2021.  I doubt if we'll be able to get back in until October or later.  We bought a new bed, washer and dryer. Pat replaced window sashing. I washed all the bedspreads. I also cleaned and repaired a leather couch.  Unlike our usual style we cooked several nights and brought food in a couple of nites. This was definitely a working trip. 

Today, we spent a little time shopping at the local outlet mall. Mostly for me but we did get some glasses for the house.  Oh yes, I set up my little featherweight and worked on the one project I brought down -- the doggy tumbler project.  Sorry, no pictures of it. 

Now on to my goals list.  Because we left Wednesday I really didn't get all that much done.

3/22/2021

Finish green table runner ☑️

Prep doggy tumbler quilt ☑️ Sewed 6 of 7 rows.

Make and apply binding for my quilt — Didn’t start

Cut out a couple more r, w, & b Ohio stars — Nope! 

And this week I'm repeating two and adding a couple of new ones 

3/28/2021

Quilt and bind another quilt

Make and apply binding for my quilt 

Cut out a couple more r, w, & b Ohio stars 

Figure out more dog fabric for tumbler quilt. 

We did take an hour the other evening to see the ocean and beach. I call this Moonlight on the Atlantic Ocean.  My friend Sharon immediately asked me if I was going to make a quilt of it.  Um, no. But it would be a beautiful one if I could figure out how to do it. 

This post is a lot later than I usually like but I'm glad I could fit it in. I'll be linking it up with my usual linky parties: Can I Have a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, and Scrap Happy Saturday.  OMG -- How could I forget the monthly Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge link up?  Please go visit this linky party and shame on me for forgetting! Let's get on that internet and see what people are working on!  Tomorrow Today is driving day.  Hopefully we'll be home in 4.5 hours or less.  Then I can relax and check these linky parties out. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

A Yellow Finish

Here we are almost at the end of February or "Yellow February" if you are playing along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2021.  I've stepped it up a bit and am also doing the Table Scrap Challenge using the RSC colors.  With no further to do, here's my yellow table runner. 

If you are looking for a name for the block I used, I can't tell you.  After I had all the pieces cut out and laid out, I randomly changed the directions on at least one four patch in each block.  So if you name it, it's probably only the name for one of the blocks.  Perhaps the name of this should be Wild Table Runner. 

Most of the pieces were cut with my AccuQuilt dies.  The blocks are 12" finished. The 4 patches start as 2.5" squares.  The half square triangles are made 2 at a time with 5" squares (sewn on lines a quarter inch away from the diagonal) trimmed to 4.5", and the centers are 4.5" using the Go Round Flower Die.  I used a shiny embroidery thread in yellow for the quilting.  Unlike last month's table runner, I was ready to get this one done -- so I used a minimal amount of quilting.  You can see the square around the four patches.  I also stitched in the ditch by the yellow part of the triangles. (I stitched in the batting to move from triangle to triangle.)  And I called it done.  Not a very time consuming table runner. And it looks bright and sunny on our table. 

Do you see the mug at the far end?  I got that from my grandparent's house.  It is a Royal Dalton Toby mug.  It had some yellow flowers and and overall springy look to me so it became part of the picture. 
 

Thanks go to Nann at With Strings Attached for the backing fabric. A while ago I got a surprise box in the mail filled with fabric. I know I used several pieces when I was making masks. But I hadn't looked through it recently so I decided to see if there was any yellow fabric in there that would work for the back. Yes, there was a nice piece that works well. 

It makes a nice little roll with the backing being shown.  

Here you can see the binding, a bit of the front and the backing.  I used a bunch of different yellows from my yellow scrap bag which you can see a bit here. 

I've finished my yellow friendship stars and have added them to the pink stars on the design wall. 

I'm closing in on the yellow scrap basket I've been making for a while.  I haven't decided if I will continue to make a basket in the RSC color every month.   I think it will depend on whether I have lots of scraps in a particular color.  

And, what happens to your yardage collection when you are trying to find binding for a table runner and lining for a basket?  It's thrown around quite a bit.  So, before the end of the month I will straighten my yellow yardage.  

I've been working on straightening my piles of yardage by picking a new color every few weeks. (Heaven forbid I do it all at one time.)  A couple of weeks ago it was pink.  Now I need to do the yellows. My shelves hold fabric that is supposedly at least 1/2 yard and more.  I say supposedly because sometimes I leave smaller pieces there and sometimes I cut hunks off but leave the rest. For the longest time I bought mostly half yard pieces. In the last few years I've been trying to buy 1 yard or larger pieces so I can more easily pull fabric for a lap quilt from stash.  Sometimes that works, and sometimes not. It won't take more than 10 or 15 minutes to have those yellows looking good again. (Ugh, both the greens and browns look pawed through too...) 

I'm linking up with several parties today.  Visit Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, Table Scraps, and Scrap Happy Saturday. (Wow, that's a lot more link ups then I expected!)  I'll link up as the blogs become available.  I'm looking forward to some serious blog surfing to get new ideas. (Ok, truth is I don't need a lot of new ideas ... I need to finish some UFOs and have fun starting new projects for which I've already gathered fabric and pattern!) 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

RSC and Table Scraps Challenge

Are you a fan of RSC, Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  I seem to participate every other year or so. Although I spend some time nearly every day in my studio I am not a particularly fast planner or doer when it comes to making quilts and such.  So some years I'm all about finishing projects or working on things I want to do.  But some years I like to add the RSC as a form of using more scraps. Instead of doing several different block sets each month, I've joined Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter. Ok, yes I did start one new block set with January's pink that I plan to continue.  

But first up is my Table Scraps Challenge runner.  I realize I don't have a lot of pink but did have some fat quarters I really like.  I have a couple of table runner books and books I know have table runners in them.  Plus, I have files of quilt pictures on my computer.  I looked at all of them until I chose Fusion from The Trendy Table by Heather Peterson of Anka's Treasures. (Wow! I just realized she's written two more Trendy Tables books.) 

I decided I wasn't going to use just pink so I selected a light grey allover design and Navy Kona solid. I was going to make it smaller to fit my dining room table. I got to cutting.  Have I mentioned I don't always read directions completely? First, I had to figured out the right size and quantity to cut my pieces. Then I had to sew them the right way. (Really? Why?) Which led me to having to rip frequently.  Oh yes, there was a whole post recently on Jack the Ripper.  This table runner was helped by my friend Jack. I digress.  

Stitching in the ditch. 

After the top was pieced I used my Bernina to quilt it. Yes, I do have a long arm but I only had a small backing and I wanted to do specific things around the design.  I was pleasantly surprised that I could still quilt on the domestic machine.  It's a whole different way of doing when you compare a domestic machine to a long arm.  I remembered how to push the fabric around. First up stitching in the ditch.  Next I did a bit of stippling. (That was a bit harder than the SID.) Then I got out my trusty 1" painter's tape to mark some straight line stitching. As I got going on these steps I realized it was imperative to think about where I was going so I didn't have a bunch of starts and stops.  

Straight line quilting done with 1" painter's tape markings.

Because the straight lines went off the edge of the table runner, I was able to run my stitching off and then make a turn and stitch in the excess until batting until I wanted to make a turn and stitch the next straight line area. That made it much easier as long as I thought about stitching before starting.  And yes, my pointer finger was tracing the lines to make sure I figured out what to do before the machine did its work. 

The final stitching was a curve in the pink pieces.  Again, I thought about the best way to do it to eliminate starts and stops.  Having the navy separating parts of the quilt meant I did have quite a few beginnings and endings.  I did not stitch in the navy at all.  I used a bendable ruler to create a pleasing curve and then drew it on a piece of lightweight cardboard.  I cut it out and had two shapes I could play with.  I used it to draw a line on the pink pieces to give some motion to the quilting. 

As I was quilting I was pondering the binding.  I had enough grey or navy to do it.  I probably had enough of one of the light pinks to use as a binding too.  But after consulting with my quilting buddy Sharon, we both liked the idea of the navy. (Thank goodness I had enough for it and another quilt I wanted to bind with it!) 

I don't often hand stitch binding down any more.  Most of my quilts are donated.  The last thing a recipient wants is the binding to fall apart so I normally sew both sides on the machine.  But this was small and I was willing to spend the time to hand finish it.  I LOVE the backing fabric.  I've owned it for years and have used little bits and pieces but I thought it worked well with the front.It looks mostly cranberry but it has a bit of pink within the paisleys. And if I want, I can flip the runner and use that side for a while.  

Here are some glamour shots --- 

My first Table Scraps challenge is complete.  I enjoyed working with pink and some friends.  I love the backing fabric that might be flipped to use sometimes. All of these fabrics came from stash so I'm tickled with that too.  I am happy I can still push fabric around under my domestic machine and have some decent results. The best thing I can say is I really enjoyed this challenge.  

Lest you think I didn't really start blocks, here are the two pink star blocks I did.  I specifically made them to test a block I'm putting with the t shirt quilt but I decided a bunch of different Friendship Star blocks in a rainbow of colors would make a nice quilt eventually.  I think I need to make a few more.

I'm linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts, Beauties Pageant 114 at From Bolt to Beauty, Scrap Happy Saturday at Superscrappy, and Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge at The Joyful Quilter.  Enjoy seeing what people are doing, especially with pink around the Internet.  Monday starts a new color -- bright shiny yellow.  Angela mentioned it in her post today.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie