Moda Winterlude Table Runners

When I was quilting the first time around there was no internet, no Craftsy, no YouTube, no Pinterest… Only Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine. (And paper templates and scissors!) I don’t even know if there were fabric designers who made fabric specially for quilting. But times have changed and now they tempt you for months before a fabric line is released, like the next season of Downton Abbey or something, putting out teasers on Pinterest and on quilting blogs.

I began coveting Moda Winterlude before it was released. Then the Missouri Star Quilt Company featured a charm pack as the Daily Deal, so I ordered 2! A pattern was released with it, but I decided it was too labor intensive, so I went with my old pal half square triangles. I divided the squares into reds, greens, and creams and experimented with different arrangements, finally deciding on the concentric diamonds. I got yardage for the borders and back at Gone Quiltin‘ in Bandera, Texas in August 2014 while doing the Row by Row run. I love the way it turned out!

 

I had had the blue pieces left so I decided to make a simple square with those. This was my first real project that I quilted free motion. I used a holly leaf motif. There were several “eyelashes” where I went too fast around the curves– the machine beeped at me a lot! (Now, several moNyah’s later, controlling the speed is much easier.)

 

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Fourth of July Table Runner/ Mantel Cloth

One of the quilt shops we visited while on our Arkansas vacation in July 2013 was Sager Creek Quilts in Siloam Springs. It was just beautiful! I got these reds, whites, and blues, thinking I would finish this runner to replace the fall-ish cloth that had been on my mantel forever. It was something like July 2 lol but I don’t really have a good “inner calendar” and hadn’t realized that might not happen. My son and I had a good laugh and said I’d better get started cutting it out with fingernail scissors in the car!

Anyway– I found this star pattern on Pinterest and I made it with all half square triangles. I used a flannel sheet for batting and a cotton tablecloth for the back, both of which I’d gotten at an estate sale. Quilting is in the ditch. It stayed up on my mantel for well over a year… But patriotic is always in style!