My most recent sewing (quilting) project can finally be revealed! It was a Christmas present for my Mom.
After completing two table runners this year, I think it’s safe to stay that I much prefer actual quilts; the blankets. The runners weren’t difficult per say, but they were involved. Lots of cutting and the pieces, for obvious reasons, were much smaller. And just as you really get the hang of a certain part, it’s time to stop that and start something else. And the final projects, while I was pleased with both of them, seem so small! Anyway, here is the story, and semi-tutorial of the table runner and placemats that I made for my Momma.
The Project: 5 Star Salute Table Runner and Placemats
The beginning. My trusty directions and the fabric. My Mom is a fan of blue and yellow and when I found this 1930’s replica print (far right) I thought it was perfect. I paired it with two basic fabrics for an authentic reproduction look.
Let the cutting begin. Strips and squares. The directions have you cutting the squares into triangles right away, but I’ve done enough half square triangle quilting to know better than that. There is a better way where you sew squares together and
then cut them into triangles which is easier (less cutting and sewing) in the long run. The strips are my boarder and binding.
My half square triangle trick. Instead of taking the squares, cutting them into triangles and then sewing them all back together… place two squares right sides together. (The solid blue and the white print with the light blue pattern in this case.) Mark a straight line down the center.
Pin your squares together so they don’t shift on you whilst sewing.
Repeat about a million times ;-) Actually I think I only had 20 pairs.
And now sew! 1/4 inch from the center line on each side. I just Keep sewing my squares one right after another and clip the thread between them when I’m done. Once you’ve sewn, cut down the middle and ta-da, you’ve got 2 half square triangles.
So, one more cut down the center and you’ve just doubled your half square triangles.
Now that you’ve got 40 some odd half square triangles floating around you have to put them back together! I know… but the colors have got to contrast in order to create the star pattern.
This is your finished block after two rounds of cutting and sewing. This is also after ironing down your seams.
Next step: cutting off those annoying little tags on the corner. 20 blocks times 4 annoying tags and you get the idea. (See what I mean about lots of little steps.)
Side note. After I had sewed and cut all my initial half square triangles I considered doing a wrench block pattern instead. It would have meant eliminating the whole step two of cutting each of these white and blue triangle squares (below) in half again and sewing them back together in contrasting patterns. But… after laying out a block and even the whole runner for a visual I decided to stick with the original plan. More work, but it looked much better than these two photos! Don’t you think?
So, back to the project at hand. Here is the actual block with step two included. Much prettier.
To assemble the whole runner the directions indicated piecing your smaller components into 3 larger “blocks”. I’m calling them blocks even though only one is square. But you will see that they all fit together perfectly in the end. At this stage I had 3 different small blocks: blue & white triangles, plain white, and plain yellow. These 3 small blocks had the be sewn together in strips. Then the strips of small blocks had to be sewn to one another. And finally, for 2 of the larger 3 blocks, the joined strips had to be sewn to the large yellow triangles.
And as always, lots of ironing. I use Best Press clear starch alternative which makes my ironing much easier and faster. And I discovered they carry a lovely lavender scent.
Here we are with all my small blocks sewn together. Next step is attaching them to the larger yellow triangle.
And finally all three large “blocks” are sewn together and pressed and ready to come together to form the final table runner!
This is a photo of the 3 different large blocks pieced together for a visual before I started sewing them. (Please ignore the ugly and cheap base housing carpet.)
And now begins the pinning together of the pieces for sewing (and you guessed it, ironing of the seams).
This is three “blocks” sewn together. Obviously still in need of serious ironing. At this stage you get the placemat! I wish I would have used the measurements from the table runner for the placemats. They look identical, but the cuts for the placemats were a bit smaller. I think a little too small. But you sew and learn for next time!
Finally have all my blocks for the table runner sewn together and ironed! Here I was cutting away the excess yellow triangle fabric.
And the table runner top is complete! I sewed on the blue boarder and all that’s left is the quilting and binding. (Oh yeah and the 6 placemats!)
So, I went with the solid blue on the back. I thought the white would get dirty too easily, and that the yellow was a bit overwhelming. I used spray adhesive to baste together my three layers; top, batting and back. The directions don’t call for any batting, but I thought it was too thin and flimsy without it. I did your basic stitch in the ditch quilting. Partly because I thought it was in keeping with traditional 1930’s quilting, partly because my Mom likes things simple, and partly because once I got this far I honestly didn’t have the energy to (or time) to get super creative with my quilting! These pictures are me trimming the excess batting and backing away from my quilted runner. Just the binding left to to!
Binding. I guess I just don’t quilt enough because when I get to this step I have to go dig out my notes from my first how to quilt class every time. Once you have all the strips cut to the proper width they get sewn together at an angle, the seams trimmed to 1/4 inch and pressed open. Then you take that whole looooong strip of fabric and iron it in half. Then you are ready to sew on the binding. (If I was smart I’d do this step first thing so when I got to the end of the project it would be ready and waiting and one less thing thing to do!)
Here I am sewing on my binding. It gets machine stitched on, raw edges of the binding lined up with the raw edges of your project. Once that is sewed on, fold the binding over to the back and hand stitch the back down with a blind stitch.
Here are my finished placemats getting basted together with the batting and backing and ready to be trimmed and bound.
After about a week of hand sewing, the binding was complete. I washed the placemats and runner, trimmed stray threads and everything was complete. (Another reason not to quilt these small projects; corners. Hand sewing the backs on corners on binding is a pain.) Overall I am happy with how everything turned out. I love the blocks! Just wish the placemats were a bit larger.
Happy Christmas Momma.
Drank in our last few trips to Napa in January & February 
J got his first stitches as we prepared to move in February 
We moved again! Goodbye Travis AFB CA.
Road trip! CA to NV to UT to WY to SD to ND 
Arrived at our new base, Grand Forks AFB, in march!
Bought two new four wheel drive SUVs for the weather :)
Flew to my Dad’s doctoral graduation in May
The boys turned 29 in June
We joined the Grand Forks Country Club and spent lots of time golfing & eating there over the summer 
Celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary whilst I had bronchitis in June
Getting to know a new airplane and a new squadron
Moved into our new (base) house in August
Got two new roommates: Brutus (right) & Winston (left) 
Took a Labor Day weekend road trip to Minneapolis
Where we found out we were pregnant!
The boys took a trip to play Pebble Beach with their Dad in October 
While my mom was here in October we got our first snow 
We announced to everyone we were expecting & got a healthy mid-pregnancy ultrasound report in December 
