Sixteenth Finish of 2011: Buttermint Flurry Table Runner

If you read A Quilter’s Table, then you have already seen the table runner that I gave my mom for Christmas. From the beginning, I knew I wanted hers to be mostly green. I struggled to fit in other Flurry fabrics that I had left from the jelly roll, but none of them seemed quite right. In the end, I cut up a coordinating fat quarter in solid white. My mom likes modern quilts, so I knew she would appreciate the simplicity of solid white. I started this quilt in December 2011 and finished it on December 23, 2011, just in time for Christmas!

Thanks for your patience while I posted four similar projects in a row. You won’t see this pattern again for awhile. I have fabric set aside to make a blue and green version for myself, but I need to take a break and do something fresh and new first.

For those who are unfamiliar with the word “Buttermint,” it is a yummy mint cookie that is a family favorite for Christmas baking.

Fifteenth Finish of 2011: Candy Cane Flurry Table Runner

When I decided to make coordinating table runners as Christmas gifts (see Evergreen Flurry and Peppermint Flurry for the first two), I wanted to use the same pattern (Box Lunch Table Runner from On a Roll Again) and same fabric line (Flurry by Kate Spain), but still make four unique quilts. As I used up the jelly roll I had bought for this purpose, it became more challenging to decide on a design I liked. Luckily, after much mixing and matching of fabrics, I settled on a red-and-white-ish candy cane theme for my mother-in-law’s table runner. Again, this pattern lends itself better to more scrappiness than this, but I am very happy with the final product. I especially like the diagonal quilting, just like a candy cane!

Candy Cane Flurry was begun and finished in December 2011.

Fourteenth Finish of 2011: Peppermint Flurry Table Runner

After finishing the Evergreen Flurry Table Runner, I was anxious to start on the next Christmas present, which was for my grandmother. I knew I wanted to use the poinsettia/bird fabric, as my grandma likes poinsettias and birds remind her of my late grandfather.

With this table runner, I learned that this pattern (Box Lunch Table Runner from On a Roll Again) works best with a variety of fabrics. I spent a lot of time rearranging the blocks because they were too similar for the design I had envisioned. One evening, late at night, I threw up my hands in frustration and went with a different arrangement altogether. The next morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really liked the end result. Luckily, my grandmother did, too.

Peppermint Flurry was started and completed in November 2011.

Thirteenth Finish of 2011: Evergreen Flurry Table Runner

When I finished the Two Weeks’ Notice table runner, I knew that I wanted to use the same pattern for Christmas presents for the four other women in my family. It took me awhile to find the right fabric, but find it I did: Flurry by Kate Spain. I bought a jelly roll and some coordinating solids as soon as it was released, but didn’t get started until October.

I had such fun dividing up the jelly roll strips for each table runner. The first one I tackled was for my husband’s grandmother, whose favorite color is green. The piecing went quickly, but I stalled when I realized that I had to get more basting pins in order to baste it. Once it was basted, I machine quilted it in a dense crosshatch pattern and finished it in early November. I am really pleased with the results.

Flashback Friday #10: Scrappy Keyhole Table Runner

After finishing the Two Weeks’ Notice table runner, I started another table runner with the leftover jelly roll scraps. This time, the pattern was Keyholes Table Runner, also from On a Roll Again by Heather Mulder Peterson. I don’t remember when I started it, but I finished it in the spring of 2009. It took me so long because I hand quilted it in a very dense cross-hatch pattern. I accidently left out one of the blocks, which I found a few weeks after I finished the runner. This table runner now lives at my grandma’s house, occasionally making appearances in her kitchen and her breakfast nook.

Flashback Friday #9: Two Weeks’ Notice

As you may have surmised from reading this blog, I am no speed quilter. I am amazed at all the quilters I see online that can finish quilts in a matter of days or weeks. It usually takes me months or years. In one case, though, I finished a table runner from start to finish in less than two weeks!

When one of my co-workers at a previous job learned about my hobby, he started asking me if he could buy one of my quilts. I told him that I don’t sell quilts. I really enjoyed working with him and didn’t want to let him down by promising something I might not be able to deliver. Then one day, in the spring of 2008, he gave his two weeks’ notice. I was sad for me, but happy for him. On a whim, I decided to make him a table runner as a thank you for his mentoring.

I had no WIPs that would suit him and no time to order fabric online. I had been eyeing the Box Lunch Table Runner pattern in On a Roll Again by Heather Mulder Peterson and had a stack of jelly roll strips left over from the Diamond Runner. I picked out some brown, blue and green strips and set to work. I worked on that runner every single day until it was finished and was able to give it to him on his last day. He was pleasantly surprised to receive it. I really enjoyed the pattern and have it in mind for a certain jelly roll in my stash, so you may see it again soon.