Practice makes better!

Christmas is just five days away and I FINALLY made a table runner with material I purchased several months ago!  Well, I'm just early for next year, right?  When I made the runner for Halloween, I wished I had backed it with a material more suited for Thanksgiving.  You know, double-duty.  So, having that idea in mind, I found this great fabric at Magnolia Quiltworks and thought it would work well for Christmas, New Year's, even Valentine's Day.  I love pink, red, and yellow together and these fit right in.

First off, I am by no means a quilter!  I have made blankets, but never "quilted" them;  I have put quilt binding on different things, but not on quilts;  and I just recently learned how to "free motion quilt" on a toddler's jacket, although I'm certainly no pro at it!  So, keep all that in mind when you see what I came up with!  Sorry about dark pictures with the camera flash. I took these photos at 2 a.m.!  First side:

Second side:

I had so much fun with free-motion on the little jacket that I thought I would quilt the table runner.  So, I "stippled" all over it and added the butter-yellow quilt binding.  Stippling takes a lot of practice, but I don't know that you can mess up too much.  I tried to be fluid, relaxed, and not cross over any previous stitch lines.  I said "tried".  But, it really is fun.  If you have never done this before, give it a try.  I found a tutorial over at the Jolly Jabber that explains it far better than I can begin to!

Speaking of practice, I have much to do on binding as well.  There are tons of tutorials on the internet and on You Tube.  I love You Tube.  I think you can learn anything there!  And, don't forget your local quilt shop.  They are always so happy to help and have classes scheduled all the time for everyone from beginners to pros!

One thing I did a little differently this time was in sewing on the binding.  After stitching it to one side of the runner, I flipped it over and decided to use a blanket stitch instead of a straight stitch.  It gave it the look of twin needle work and looks very nice.  Maybe not as much on the back, only because it came off the binding a little.  Whoopee-dee-do, I'll just add some ric rac!!   And, no I'm not posting that picture!

So, a project done and my family thinks it looks just fine!  And, I'll keep practicing.  I also made two doughnuts and a cinnamon roll - in the car - on a road trip!  Nah, I'm not that good.  They were made from felt!  But, that's another post for another day!

I hope you are all ready for Christmas and to spend some fun time with family and friends over the next week.  I believe, aside from some midnight wrapping, we are ready.  My husband and I helped Santa out the other night and finished off the shopping!  I think the next few days will be candy cane dipping, sugar-cookie making, loving on my kids kind of days!

Merry Christmas,

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