Do you belong to a quilter’s guild? I do, or did. I am the co-founder of our local Modern quilter’s guild, the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild, and with a to-do list a bazillion miles long, a business to run, fabric to design, art to make, this past year I found myself running at over-capacity and decided to take a break from guild. It’s all good, I just need to focus on some huge projects where my heart is shining and inspiration is high, like my very first solo gallery art show, squeee!- coming up next September, plus pattern designing and writing, fabric design, and various art markets I’ll be participating in coming up fast. Oh and running my design business too. Yes!
Anyways, the one thing I do miss from guild meetings is show & tell, so, I thought why not do an online one instead! So here’s my new project for Show & Tell, a table runner!
I picked up a Quick Curve Ruler recently because I saw this quilt popping up online in various places and wanted to try it. I don’t normally buy gadgets or specialty rulers, but this one looked kinda fun!
As I delved into it, I got a bit nervous, I’m a more of a freeform sewist, I usually work in improv where if something doesn’t fit, you just make it fit- add on, cut off, re-arrange, but with this there isn’t as much fudge-room, lol! Luckily the ruler comes with a free pattern to test your skills and they recommend making it first to try it out, so that’s what I did.
I found it easy to cut with, even with my larger 60mm rotary cutter, and the piecing went ok. I realized too late though that I cut my fat quarters wrong, and was left short some pieces so I added in a third print, the coral “Hifi” record print.
I think I got impatient with the sewing, and by the end it got a bit “off”, but once I cut all the blocks down to size it worked out and went together just fine. Phew. Thinking I need to slow down while sewing curves, take your time, breathe, go slowly…
On the back I used a thrifted 70’s-ish sheet, I seem to have a lack of greys and blues in my stash but this one worked well! I used a trick my friend Cathy used on one of her recent quilts, and quilted it from the back, following the pattern of the fabric. It was pretty fun and looks cool! I mixed it up partway though and switched to straight, wonky lines mixed in, so it gives an urban feel to match the fabric prints, ( Latifah Saafir Grafic, a lucky bday gift from my bestie Bea).
For binding, I used Kona Watermelon, one of my current faves, to tie in the coral records print. I like the pop it gives to the finished runner.
Now it’s your turn, I’d love for you to share a pic, link, IG post, whatever works, of your latest finished quilty, sewing, or otherwise creative project. Anything you’ve finished and would love to share, we want to see! Feel most welcome to tag me on IG (@cynthiafrenette) or post a link here in the comments so we can see what you’ve been up to!
