Pinwheel Table Runner

Quilted table runners can be great for using up stash.  This one is 12" by 40" finished size and it really doesn't use much fabric.  It's made using Nancy Cabot's dancing pinwheels quilt block and I think it's really fresh and cheerful looking.

Each quilt block is made using four white 2.1/2" squares, sixteen 2.7/8" brown squares and eight 2.7/8" squares of both yellow and white.  All the half square triangle units are made using brown with either yellow or white fabric.  For the table runner I used three complete blocks.

After sewing the quilt blocks together I felt that it needed something to finish off the ends, so I added a row consisting of two brown 2.1/2" squares and four brown/yellow half square triangles at each end.  That seemed to do the trick and round off the design.  Then it just needed layering, quilting and binding.


Thanks for visiting my blog.
I hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Scrappy Quilt Borders

I love trying out new ideas for quilt borders and recently I made a french braid quilt which gave me an idea for a quilt border that could use up lots of odds and ends of scrap fabric.

I cut piles of strips of fabric 3.1/2" by 2" and another pile of red 2" squares.  This makes quite a wide border, but you could always adjust the length of the strips if you wanted a thinner border.

With the red squares in the middle I laid out all the strips of fabric on either side.  I began by putting two strips of the same fabric next to each other but then decided that I preferred the random look.

I began by sewing the brown strip to the red square and then sewed the green strip to both of these.  That's the base so then it's just a case of building from there.  The cream strip goes next on the left hand side and then a red square with another strip on the right hand side.

Once I had the length that I needed it was just a case of pressing well before trimming.

I trimmed the top and bottom first and then the sides.  The safest way to trim the sides is to place your ruler on the strip so that you can cut a definite amount from each side.  Otherwise you risk having your border strip an uneven width.



My work in progress right now is a tutorial for quilting rope borders.  In order to keep the process simple I seem to have lots of diagrams showing each stage - templates would be so much easier except that they are never the right size!

Linking up with freshly pieced as ever:



Thanks for visiting my blog.
I hope to see you again soon.
Rose