I'm a self taught quilter. Before deciding to jump into this madness and purchase a bunch of tools/things I may never use again I made a table runner exactly as you described. I rationalized it that people 100's of years ago had none of these fancy things so why did I need them. Honestly wasn't impressed with the final results. I came to the conclusion that today's instructions/patterns almost require these implements. 10+ years later I'm happy I have my 'stash' of tools and it really is MUCH easier!