I'm not one for making a huge deal out of Valentines, but with the new year has come a renewed effort to rid my home of clutter. Its working! The easiest spot to de-cluttered was the table, often found piled with papers, laptop, post, handbag, ... you get the picture. So what better than to celebrate with a new table runner.
I had a rough plan, which I mapped out on EQ7, so I knew to cut 22 patterned triangles and 70 background. To manage my time and fabrics easier, I cut 5" strips from my fat quarters of cotton and steel, and the same again across the width of fabric for the background. This meant I could manage the fabric cuts to maximize yield.
you can get 7 triangles from one FQ strip or 14 from a full width of fabric strip. Layer up your fabrics and position them just over the previous cut line with each pass through the machine.
I started by making background half hexi's from 3 triangles. a total of 22 of these.
then laid everything out, to piece patterned triangles to the half hexi's and then into strips. Once you have 2 strips, joint these together.
Trim the ends, ensuring you have 1/4" beyond the points for seam allowance.
measure your top, add borders, mine were 4" finished, layer up, and quilt as desired.
Of course the pattern creates the perfect opportunity for some fancy quilting!
I trimmed up the runner after quilting and used the left overs from the fat quarters and the 2 1/2" strip die (658328) to cut my strips for a scrappy binding.
I'm really pleased with the result, and its making it easier to keep the table clear too!
If you haven't seen already, pop over to my blog to see what I used to keep the runner in place.
This runner is 60" x 24" and is just perfect for my table. I hope you'll give the equilateral triangle die a go, and create something beautiful in time for Valentines too.
