Fall Table Runners

Over the summer I was busy working on some quilting projects and I made several fall table runners.  I am not usually drawn to the fall colors.  I prefer the summer and spring color pallets.  But I thought I would try to expand my horizons and when a friend was cleaning out her stash I snagged some beautiful fall fabric.

The first one is a simple pattern based on the size of the squares my friend had already cut out.  I added the end piece to create a rectangle block and then alternated where the end piece was to create a staggered look.  I then added a few borders and I was done.  The really exciting factor in this table runner is the quilting.  I have been working on my free motion quilting and have done mostly meandering type quilting.  I have this down pretty well so I wanted to branch out a bit.

The light colored squares are the ones my friend had precut.

I added the leaf patterned piece to each block the create the rectangular block.

It is simply yet very striking at the same time.

 

I found online several patterns that were in a fall theme.  I chose the meandering leaves to put on this table runner.  I printed out the pattern and pinned it to the runner.  I then stitched through the paper to get the feel of how the pattern flowed.  Then I just kept stitching.  Using the paper was an easy way to get started and I was able to continue without the paper on the rest of the table runner.  I was pleased with the results.

 

These are the sheets I printed.  I did enlarge one to see if it would be easier to master.

Once I finished stitching on the paper it was easy to tear away.

The finished result, not half bad for a first try.

 

Since the table runner has a large border I wanted to incorporate some additional free motion quilting in the border.  I first searched for an acorn free motion pattern but was unable to find one that I felt I could manage easily.  While searching I came across an article that talked about writing in cursive letters in quilting.  That sparked the idea of writing several words in a continuous pattern along the border.  I selected the words: fall, leaves, pumpkins and acorns.  I started at the end of the longest side and started spelling out my words.  This was really easy since I was not overly concerned if the words were all exactly in a straight line.  In between each word I put a little loop and some space to separate them.  When I came to the next edge I continued my loop and space around the corner and then began my words again.

 





Writing in the cursive letters was fairly easy.

Hopefully you can see the word fall.

 

The quilting on this runner is not 100% accurate but for a first try I was please with the results.  The next time you have a wide border and are feeling rather adventurous try spelling out your favorite phrase or words in thread.

 

Danna