Jelly Glazed Hearts Tablerunner {Fat Quarter Shop Hop}

Today I am participating in the Jelly Glazed Hearts tablerunner blog hop with the Fat Quarter Shop! Check out their post on the Jolly Jabber here!

For this project, I picked a mini jelly roll of the new Alma line from the Ruby Star Society and picked one of cream prints for the background fabric.

I picked out eight strips from the jelly roll for my blocks and paired them up.

Next came chopping my strip sets into the correct lengths for each block.

Then I made the heart blocks and added the setting triangles to each block.

This is a really, really long table runner!

I used backing from my stash and quilted this runner with leaves and swirls. I used six of the remaining jelly roll strips to make a scrappy bias binding. (I used this tutorial as my guide.)

This runner is actually just a little bit too big for my table (go figure) so this will likely become a gift!

Check out the other Jelly Glazed Hearts runners on the Jolly Jabber! Get the pattern here! There is also a YouTube video!

Sharing at Wednesday Wait Loss and Needle and Thread Thursday!

Spooky Halloween {Finished Table Runner}

My October Island Batik Ambassador challenge is complete!

For the machine applique stitching, I used a simple blanket stitch in black thread for all of the blocks.

I then pieced everything together and layered it with backing and batting, only to realize, that yes, I was a couple inches short on backing length using a single width of fabric. Oops.

To remedy my problem, I added a strip of black fabric approximately 5" wide to my backing to get the necessary length.

Here's my quilted table runner, after trimming and before adding the binding:

In the block backgrounds, I used black thread to free motion quilt meanders around the applique sections; I did not do any quilting within the applique sections. In the strip pieced sections and in the black cornerstones, I used orange thread to quilt loops and swirls.

I used the same color in the top and the bobbin throughout; here's a peak of the backing with the pop of orange thread:

For the binding, I also used the black solid batik.

This is ready to adorn my dining room table!

Thank you to Island Batik (as usual) for providing me this lovely fabric!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Halloween Spooks table runner
Pattern: Halloween Spooks by HBD
Fabrics: Island Batik fabrics -- scraps and black solid
Techniques: machine applique, strip piecing, free motion quilting
Quilting: free motion meanders, loops, and swirls in black and orange thread
Size: 45" x 18"
Batting: scrap batting
Started and finished: October 2019
Future: seasonal decoration

Sharing at Peacock Party, Finished or Not Friday, and Brag about your Beauties!

Topping it off {October Island Batik Challenge}

This month's Island Batik Ambassador theme is "Top It Off" -- and we are making seasonal table toppers! There have already been a number of adorable projects already posted, too!

I decided to make another Halloween themed table runner -- using our Halloween Spooks pattern! I actually made one table runner using this pattern and some fun non-batik fabrics in May!

This time around, I changed up the color scheme slightly -- I decided to use solid black batik in place of the green prints and use some of the other applique designs included in the pattern.

This time, I decided to use the pumpkin and candy corn applique templates. The color scheme is "candy corn" and black!

I used various orange, yellow, and white fabrics for the scrappy piecing. I strip pieced the sections and placed my fabrics sort of randomly, but used slightly more orange fabric than yellow and white.

Now comes doing the machine applique stitching of my applique blocks and putting the table runner together! One slight wrinkle will be the length -- the pieced table runner is 45" -- so I will probably need to piece the backing.

This weekend was full of activities so I was not doing a lot of sewing, so hopefully this week I can squeeze in a bit more sewing.

Sharing at What I Made Monday and Moving it forward Monday!

Scrappy Stars {Finished Table Runner + Giveaway}

I finished up the table runner that I showed the first blocks of on Monday!

I made a total of twelve blocks and sewed them into a 6 x 2 arrangement, for a 48" x 16" table runner.

For the quilting, I had a hard time finding a piece to use as the backing since it is longer than a regular width of fabric, so instead, I used the quilt-as-you-go technique to add strips of the teal dot and the floral print as the "backing".

Here's what the front looks like after adding the QAYG strips to the back:

As far as adding the QAYG strips goes, I started with two strips in the approximate middle and added them at an angle, since that would be more forgiving than attempting to add the strips straight. It was very, very helpful to use the built in walking foot on my Janome 6600P for this project.

For the binding, I used the same teal dot print fabric and sewed the binding entirely by machine!

Now this table runner is reversible -- and 100% made from scraps, including the batting and the backing!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Scrappy Star Table Runner
Pattern: Mosaic Star blocks
Fabric: scrap fabrics
Techniques: Accuquilt cutting, quilt as you go, machine binding
Quilting: quilt as you go
Size: 48" x 16"
Batting: scraps
Started and Finished: September 2019
Future: TBD

Sharing at Wednesday Wait Loss and Needle and Thread Thursday!

As promised, I have packaged up a bunch of my scraps from my recent Ohio Star Baby Quilt project to do a giveaway!

Just leave me a comment on this post and you'll be entered! Please make sure that I have a way to contact you if you win, too! I might even add in an extra half yard (or two!)

Update 10/2/19: The giveaway is now closed, and I was feeling extra fun, so I picked two winners!

Lori will be the winner of the Quiet Shades fabrics and Shirley will win some other Island Batik fabrics! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Cutting Down Scraps {New Scrap Projects}

The bad news is that I have been feeling really overwhelmed by my scrap bins (and baskets and bags) lately.

The good news is that I am starting to feel like at least some of them to good use, after doing a lot of cutting with my Accuquilt Go! cutter.

The sort of bad news is that I have started a bunch of new projects in the last few weeks as a result.

The first of these projects is my Faceted Churn Dash. The grey print in the upper left corner will be my background (this was the backing of my Stash Bee quilt), the print in the lower right hand corner is my inspiration fabric (this was the back of one of my Little Fireworks quilts). I pulled yellows, teals, blacks, and a few grays as my scrappy focal fabrics. All of these fabrics came from my scrap bins, making a tiny dent.

This is also my project for the Faceted QAL I am hosting in our Honey, Bunny, and Doll Facebook group; join if you are able!

The second of these projects is intended to become a table runner, inspired by pieces of a large Asian-inspired floral in my scrap bin. I pulled a teal tonal dot (actually backing fabric scraps!) and a neutral Island Batik basic to use with this fabric. I cut enough pieces and parts to make 12 star blocks, the first four of which are complete:

The final project is the Christmas Ribbons pattern from the book Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett. Right now I just have the rectangles cut; I have yet to start on cutting the background fabrics but I have the fabric chosen. This will be made as large as I can make it from the yard of background fabric that I have.

What kind of scrap projects are you working on this week?

Sharing at Oh Scrap!

Halloween Spooks in Faboolous Fun {Autumn in the Air Hop + Giveaway}

Today I'm the hostess for the Autumn in the Air blog hop!

I'm more of a summer girl myself, but I love sewing for fall! This time around, I picked the Faboolous Fun line to sew up a new version of our Halloween Spooks pattern, which can be used to make a table runner or a wall hanging.

I really loved the green prints in this collection, so I decided to use that as the main background fabric. Oh, and guess what! This fabric GLOWS! (I'm not a photography wizard, but I did figure out a way to show the fabrics glowing in the dark!)

The pattern itself has options for scrappy piecing or strip piecing, and I chose the strip piecing methods. I used my own solid scraps to do the applique sections. I picked the cat, two bats, and the witch hat. I chose these because the black solid shows up so nicely against the lime green star print. I used black thread to do all of the machine applique stitching using a blanket stitch.

This is actually the first time I've made this pattern, despite it being one of our "original" Honey, Bunny, and Doll patterns.

A general applique block top: if you struggle with applique distorting your base fabric, cut your base fabric pieces a 1/2" or 1" larger than necessary and then trim down before assembly. This also can help you should your appliques shift and end up off-center!

I used black thread to do the quilting; I did squiggly lines interspersed with stars. The backing and the binding uses a web print and I used orange thread to top stitch the binding.

Get your own copy of this pattern here!

Now onto the giveaway!

Benartex will be giving away a bundle of 8 fat quarters from this collection to one lucky winner!

To enter, leave me a comment telling me all of your feelings about machine applique -- do you prefer traditional applique? What's your favorite fusible? What's your favorite stitch to use?

I'll close the giveaway on Monday at midnight and pick the winner Tuesday morning!

The giveaway is now closed and the winner is ShirleyC!

Don't forget to also check out the other stops on this week's hops!

Autumn in the Air Hop Schedule

Lisa @ Love to Color My World using Harvest Berry by Cheryl Haynes

Debby @ Debby Kratovil Quilts using Harvest Gold 

Sandra @ Mmm! Quilts using Thankful by Amanda Murphy

Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts using Faboolous Fun

Crosscut Table Runner {Whimsical and Wonky}

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I am provided with samples of various lines of Island Batik fabrics to use and share with you!

While I still might not be done with Clue #3 for Good Fortune (and Clue #4 comes out tomorrow!), I did finish up my Island Batik Ambassador project for December! In my last post, I shared about how I used the Crosscut technique from A Quilter's Table to make the top of this table runner!

I quilted my table runner with grey Aurifil thread in both the top and the bobbin, and it looks great against the different shades of blue! I also used the blue dot fabric for the backing.

For the binding, I used a navy blue swirl batik. I had a fat quarter, so I used nearly all of it for this binding! I was fortunate that despite having more binding seams than normal, I didn't end up with any too close to the corners!

While the lighting isn't 100% ideal in this photo, it does show off my bear claw quilting! This is a motif I haven't worked with a lot and I had a little bit of trouble keeping my claw sizes consistent but was good practice on a small piece like this.

And just for fun -- a quilts in the wild sighting! Our Christmas tree at work was lacking a tree skirt, so I brought in my Sparkle Tree Skirt. This tree skirt is too small for my tree at home, so I wasn't using it, and it is the perfect size for our tree at work!

Happy Thursday! Sharing at Brag about your Beauties!

Whimsical and Wonky {December IBA Challenge + Giveaway}

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I am provided with samples of various lines of Island Batik fabrics to use and share with you!

This month's Island Batik Ambassador theme is Whimsical and Wonky! I decided that this month I would try a technique that's been on my pin board for a long while -- the crosscut block technique from A Quilter's Table! I decided that I would use this technique to make a table runner with the leftover London Fog fabrics I have.

For my base blocks, I used 10.5" squares and 1.25" strips for the "cross" part of the blocks.

I wasn't overly precise with my cutting and sewing but I wasn't necessarily intentionally wonky in making my starting X blocks. Here are my untrimmed blocks before they were sewn together.

I trimmed each block to 10" and sewed the nine blocks together. A few of these blocks were cut with a little "wonk" to give the intersections a little more interest.

Next came the fun part -- cutting the original "top" into 6.5" squares! I picked 6.5" squares because I have a 6.5" ruler and that made it easier than trying to cut smaller or larger sizes. From my "top" I was able to cut 18 6.5" squares -- I had to sew a few large leftover pieces together for the last couple 6.5" blocks.

With 18 blocks, my table runner is 6 blocks long and 3 blocks wide, or 36" x 18".

Now to decide how to quilt and bind this abstract beauty!

And since I haven't done a giveaway in a while -- there's one today!

Today's giveaway is the remainder of my London Fog strip pack -- 24 strips in total! There are one of some patterns and two of others.

Comments for entries, up to two entries per person:
1. Leave one comment telling me what your favorite thing to sew with 2.5" strips
2. Leave a second comment if you follow me in some form or fashion: Bloglovin, Facebook, Instagram, or whatever other way you choose to follow!

Giveaway will close on December 11th (Tuesday) at midnight!

Update: our winner is Mary from Texas!

Sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!