Christmas Table Runner - 8 Pointed Floating Star

I'm excited to say that I finished a Christmas table runner for my own house! The last Christmas table runner I made was for my sister-in-law so she's enjoying it at her house now.

This was the first time that I've made an 8 pointed floating star and I have to say that it was really fun! I used my Sizzix Isosceles 4.5" Die to do this and it made it super easy!

I didn't even realize that I could use this die to make such a star until a bunch of ladies in one of my FB groups were doing a mystery quilt and were making these pieces. So I was super jazzed when I realized I already had the die I needed! Each block came out 12" finished. I just ordered the 6.5" Isosceles die (to make 18" blocks) and I think I'm going to get the 3.5" die so I can make 9" blocks too. I also used my 4.5" square for the center and my 2.5" strip die for everything else. I love my Sizzix!

The first 2 blocks were slightly wonky but as I narrowed my seam allowance a bit, they came out much better. I originally put a 2.5" red boarder on each block but then cut the whole block to 15" so that red border ended up being only like 1" when it was finished. It barely fit our entertainment center! It could have used to be about 2-3 inches longer on either side to fit the edge. Oh well!

I'm really happy the way it came out! I love this star fabric. It's a Christmas fabric I've had for several years and I hate to use it because I like it so much. I almost went with green, but red felt more like Christmas. With all these colors you'd think it would be easy to find a color to match, but it turned out to be a little tougher than I though! I used a lot of organic wavy lines for my quilting. I did about 10 and realized I hadn't used spray basting or pinned enough so they were stretching the block out so I ripped them out and started over. One day I'm going to branch out, but I don't think I'm ready to start FMQ yet.

It's looking pretty festive in our living room now!

I can't wait until next week when I'm on Christmas break and I can get some sewing done! Yay!

Until later, happy sewing!
Jamie

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Christmas Tree Table Runner

I really enjoyed having my Halloween table runner, so I tried to do a Thanksgiving/Fall one. Unfortunately it was an epic fail! I blame part of it on the fact that I used linen, and I also blame the fact that I wasn't paying attention to the grain when I cut it and I think that I kept rotating pieces so it got all crazy stretched. Then I did quilting in specific sections and it became a hot mess pretty quickly. It was the first time I tried to use my 60 degree Sizzix diamond die so I'll have to give this die another whirl when I do some better planning!

So I moved on. I used my Sizzix Large Simple Wedge Die (designed by Missouri Star Quilt Company) to make little trees. I got my inspiration from Pinterest of course.

At this point I actually decided that I was going to make this for my sister in law and send it to her for her birthday. I'm really happy at the way it came out! I am happy to say that I used all the Christmas fabrics from my stash! I actually didn't like it much when I finished sewing it up, and I was nervous I wasn't going to like the final product. But the wavy quilting really made it shine, and I love the way it came out!

I ended up cutting enough tree pieces for probably 2 more table runners, so hopefully I will get one done for our house soon for this front entry table.

Until later, happy sewing!

Jamie

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Halloween Table Runner

We've been in our house over 2 years now, so I thought I should start making some holiday stuff. Our holiday decorations are pretty skimpy so I'm hoping I can add to it bit by bit every year.

I've been crazy busy with my new job and have hardly sewed anything! I went back to teaching science (Biology and Physics specifically), and I was on a craft hiatus for seriously 3 months! But I feel so lucky to be doing a job I love at an amazing campus!

Things finally slowed down a bit a couple weeks ago, and I was able whip out this table runner for Halloween.

I did organic wavy lines with matching thread on each section, but I wish I would have done straight radiant lines from the skinny to the fat side instead. Oh well! I used the Sizzix 10" Dresden die and it sewed up so fast! I know I'll definitely use this die to make some more table runners.

I actually had enough pieces left over to make one for the living room, but I ran out of time so I'll just get that one done next year!

Until later, happy sewing!
Jamie

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