Fresh Floral Contemporary Table Runner

I don't consider myself a pro in the sewing world.  Far from it.  I believe I've gained a lot of knowledge and ability through trying many different kinds of projects and through quite a bit of trial and error.  I've definitely gotten better over the years . . . I can see that when I look back at some of my older projects compared to the more recent.  For sure.

The thing is, sometimes . . . even though I KNOW I'm not a pro or whatever, I still eye up a pattern and think "easy!" and then proceed to make stupid mistakes on it . . .  with the utmost confidence that I'm making *no errors at all*.  It makes for a frustrating "finish" when I turn the whole project right side out and see the silly mistakes that I made.  Blargh.

Anyway, though I don't have pictures of the mistakes I made on this project (that I tried my best to take apart and fix, though at least a bit of the damage couldn't be undone), it is now done and ready for gifting.

The only fabric repeated in this pattern are those 2 orange squares on each end.  My mother-in-law lived in Latin America for many years and LOVES color.  :)

I made this little runner for my mother-in-law for her birthday which is next week.  I was able to use 2 of my previous *wins* to make this project come together . . . namely the Deb Strain Fresh Flowers layer cake I won from Fabric Donkey a few SMS giveaway days ago and my copy of 101 Patchwork Projects (which I won from somewhere, but cannot for the life of me recall).  The pattern called "Contemporary Table Runner" was written by Vivica Hansen DeNegre and is a great project to use if you want to show off a lot of different little bits of fabric.  :)

You can see a bit the transition from green to white in the stitching . . . I really like using variegated thread sometimes.

Something I added to the pattern was some decorative stitching around all the borders using some Sulky variegated thread (kind of a green to white with a bit of sheen to it).  I used some Kona Tomato for the backing that was sitting in my stash.  One thing that didn't show up as well as I had hoped was some yellow variegated thread (from Coats . . . no sheen . . . nuts) that I used for the top stitching of all of the x's.  It just doesn't stand out particularly well . . . makes me wish I had used the Sulky for that part as well so the whole thing had shine on it, but oh well.  I'm still pretty pleased with the results.

You can *sort of* see the sheen in the thread in this picture . . . it shows up a bit better in real life.

Other than the Coats thread I picked up for the topstitching, this was a total stashbuster project which feels AMAZING.  I even had the perfect sized piece of batting left over from the quilt I made for Kee-ku way back when to give the runner a bit of heft.  Hurray!

Any finishes for you yet this year?  I'm about 70% done with a Christmas decor project that I never got around to making last year that WILL be finished to hang up in 2012.  I'm on a mission!



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