Holiday Craft Bash Final Week!

Welcome to Holiday Craft Bash week 6!  It's the last week, so be sure to check out the offerings from Meredith, Jessica and Jacey.  Don't forget to add your projects to the Flickr group for a chance at prizes - there is a big prize on the horizon!

This week's projects are table runners/placemats.  Now, I know when I did my centerpiece I said that table runners sometimes annoy me.  And that is true when I put them on a table I use every day, BUT, I love how they look on a table or buffet that doesn't get such constant use.  Making a table runner is such almost instant gratification - small and pretty :)  What can be better than that (especially this time of year)!

My Randot table runner was inspired by two things - round Christmas ornaments and the quilt I made last year using Sweetwater's Countdown to Christmas line.  The colors in this line are so rich - black with a yellowy green and cream and a lovely red.  I love black and white, but the cream and black combo that Sweetwater uses adds so much warmth this time of year.  The black and cream prints in my project are from Sweetwater's Mama Said Sew line as I don't have any of the black and cream Countdown to Christmas left.  The cream with little dots and the red with cream lines are from Countdown to Christmas and the rest of the fabrics are from my stash.

So here is what you need to make your own 13" x 35" runner:

½ yard green background
scraps for background insets and circles (green, black, red, cream)
¼ yard black print binding
½ yard backing
17" x 39" batting
fusible webbing
thread to match circle fabrics
circle template with 2¾" - 3½" circles (optional)

Background prep:
Cut a 13" strip of your background fabric.  Cut sections 13" x 10", 13" x 14½" and 13" x 7"
For the background insets, cut two pieces from your scraps, one 13" x 3½" and one 13" x 2½"
Piece these together following the diagram below (note that sizes are cut sizes, not finished):

Circles:

Using your circle template or various household objects, trace the following circles on the paper side of the fusible web:

4  2¾" circles

2  3" circles

3  3¼" circles

2  3½ circles

Cut the circles apart and attach them to the back of your scraps.  Cut each one out along the traced lines.

Lay out the circles on the background in a random fashion and fuse in place.  I placed my background on my ironing board before I placed the circles so I didn't need to move it to fuse them in place.

Satin stitch the circles in place with matching thread.

Finishing:

Layer your table runner with the backing and batting and pin baste.

For quilting, I drew a rough zig zag sort of following the line of the circles and echo quilted from there.

Bind with the black print binding and you're finished!