Christmas 2010 - Mom's Table Runner

This year I completed two small quilts as Christmas gifts.  The first I posted about earlier - the owl quilt for my Dad.  The other one was a table runner I made for my mom.  I had purchased 6 fat quarters from Spool earlier in the year because I loved the way they looked together, but I didn't know what to do with them.  I then realized that the colors were somewhat similar to some of the colors my mom used in their kitchen, so I decided to turn them into a table runner.  I decided on a simple pattern of alternating 4-inch squares of fabric with 4-patch squares of 4 other fabrics.  Each row has two identical four patch squares and two different 4-inch squares, so in this way each row has all 6 fabrics.  I was careful not to have any one fabric end up next to itself, so it took quite a lot of planning to get it to look the way I wanted it to.  Below you can see the fabrics as 4-inch squares.

Because of the way I put everything together, I did a lot of pinning of pairs of fabrics so I could then chain piece everything.

Once I had all the squares put together, I laid everything out on my dining table to make sure it looked OK.  Then I put them all in order so I could piece the rows together and then the entire top.  The runner is about 16 inches wide and 84 inches long.

After I finished piecing the top, I had to choose my backing and binding fabric.  I had a coordinating fabric that matched the top that I was planning on using for the back, but I took the top in to Spool to show the girls and Olga got really excited about picking out backing fabric, so I ended up with some new fabric!  Oops.  She suggested this wonderful pearlescent polka dot patterned fabric.  It makes the runner reversible and now one side is very festive.  Also, because of the simple repeating pattern, it was easy to piece it without having it look odd.  Olga also suggested the striped fabric to use as the binding, which I think ended up working out perfectly.  I finished the piece off with just simple diagonal quilting lines.

I wasn't planning on washing the quilt before giving it to her because it was lying so flat and I figured that would be best for a table runner.  But because I hadn't pre-washed my fabrics, I was worried about what might happen the first time it was washed and I didn't want it to be a surprise for my mom, so I washed it right before Christmas and it turned out lovely!  I actually prefer the look of a quilt after it's been washed and it puckers a bit in between the quilting stitches.  I couldn't wait for my mom to open the runner on Christmas and when she did, she loved it!  That's what makes it all worth it.

Happy New Year everyone!  I have several projects planned and I can't wait to get started on them.  The only problem is that I'm having some trouble with my machine ... the bobbin tension doesn't seem to be quite right - I'll have to take it in to the Vac and Sew center where I had it serviced and see if they can fix it up for me.

Christmas 2010 - The Owl Quilt

I decided in late summer that I wanted to quilt something for my parents as part of their Christmas gift this year.  At first I thought it would be nice to make them a quilt for their bed, but then realized that tackling a queen sized quilt as my second quilt ever might not be the smartest thing to do.  Luckily, I had some great fabrics in my stash that I had been wanting to use.  First up, I decided to make a wall-hanging sized quilt for my dad using two Japanese owl fabrics that he had picked up for me on a trip to Tokyo earlier this year (see below).

Owl Fabrics from Japan

I actually picked the fabric and the pattern to use simultaneously because they just seemed to go together.  The pattern is from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, which is a really fun book.  The pattern uses log-cabin blogs placed into a simple pattern of only two fabrics.  I deviated a bit from the design in the book because I wanted to make mine a bit smaller, so I reduced the overall size of each block.  I used 6.5-inch blocks and placed them in a 6 by 6 pattern so that the finished quilt is about 36 inches square.  Here's a photo of some of the pieced blocks:

Pieced Log Cabin Blocks (Almost Finished)

After I finished piecing the blocks, I had to decide on how to lay them out.  I didn't realize it before, but using these log cabin blocks is still very versatile when you put them all together.  Here are two patterns I was considering:

This first layout is very similar to the one in the book and I immediately loved it.  It kind of makes me think of a sunburst or something.  The other idea I thought of was the one below, but to be honest, I didn't really like this layout at all.  It doesn't seem very interesting - it's way too symmetrical, but I thought it was pretty cool that the same 36 blocks could make a completely different look just be rearranging the blocks!  This made me much more excited about quilting in general!

In the end, I decided on my first gut-instinct, which was to use the layout from the book.

For quilting, I followed the lines bordering the red and cream fabrics and I used matching thread so that the quilting itself never really shows very much.  A photo of the finished quilt, along with some closeups, is shown below.  The backing fabric was just a simple pattern of small black and white flowers on red - it had a Japanese feel to it.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results and I think my dad liked it too, which is all that matters!

The front of the finished quilt.

Closeup with Back

Look at the sweet owls!

Holiday Insanity - Owl Treat

Hi, everyone.  I haven't been posting because I've been too busy preparing for the holiday!  Plus, a lot of the exciting stuff I've been making has been for Christmas gifts, so I can't really post about them now - more to come after the holiday!

To tide you over (because I know you've been DYING for me to post something else), here is a photo of a little owl I made for my dad for his birthday earlier this year.  I based it on a pattern I found at Toad's Treasures.  Cute, huh?

Merry Christmas!