I made this for my friend Juline for her birthday. All together it took me about 6 hours...but should have taken much less!
First, I picked out red, white & blue fabrics from my stash & took them to quilt class Tuesday night so I could cut & sew the strips together. I figured that I could at least get all the blocks sewn during one class.
I started cutting, first the blue, then the red...then I picked up the white - and it was PINK! Well, I knew it wasn't a big piece, so I had grabbed 2 pieces of white so I would have enough. The 2nd piece was white, but it was yucky fabric! I don't know where it came from, but it almost seemed like an OLD soft pillowcase, cotton/poly blend. Oh, and the "pink" fabric - I think it used to be white, but had been with some red fabric that maybe got wet when my window leaked?
Fine, at least I got the blue & red strips cut. I know there wasn't any other white in the stash & decided that the cream wouldn't do, so now must go to JoAnn's after work on Wednesday. I found some nice white with red & blue stars - woohooo! - at JoAnn's, went home & cut it up too. I sewed all my strips together into red - white - blue sets, then cross cut them into 6.5" squares. Back to the machine, sew the first 2 together, grab the next 2 & realize that they are NOT square! ARGH!!! I had used my "Guidelines" ruler with the guide at 2.5" to cut all the strips, but must not have seated it against the fabric correctly. My seam allowances were OK, but the 3 strips together were only 6.25". Sigh. Trim all 24 blocks down to 6.25" squares. Back to the machine.
Got my 8 rows of 3 blocks together, take to ironing board to press & as I laid them out, they are not making the zig-zag pattern I want! I had sewn the last block on the even rows upside down. Where's that seam ripper??
Unsew, turn it around, resew, press....NOW it's lining up right!
Originally I had planned the runner to be 3 blocks by 7 blocks, but didn't count when I was making them & ended up with enough for 8 rows & since they were a bit smaller than planned, thought "What the heck, why not?"
I forgot about the thermalam batting & the backing weren't that long.
Luckily, I had enough width that I was able to piece both the batting & backing to fit.
Layered & pinned & back to the machine to quilt. I'm really getting in the groove, swirling & whirling away! I'm about 3/4ths done & notice that the backing folded under & was caught in the quilting - about 12" worth, 3" wide!
Where's the seam ripper?
Got that all straightened up & realized that the 11 pm news is on. No way should I attempt to cut the binding at this stage - I value my fingers way too much for that!
Did I say that Juline's b'day was Thursday? Decided to take my 2 choices for the binding with me & let her decide which one she would like.
Gave it to her, then brought it home again last night. Cut & pieced the binding, having decided to do it all by machine. Start sewing it on, go about 8" & think "Crud! I wanted to start this on the BACK, not the front!"
WHERE IS THAT SEAM RIPPER???
But I did finish it last night & gave it back to her this morning! Whew! I sure am glad she really likes it!!

XYZ,

That is so neat. And I love the really long length. Seems most table runners are half that long. Perfect for the next holiday. I can see the table set with it!

Oh my what a journey you had with that. Sounds like some of my projects ;)

It's a very nice table runner glad your friend liked it :)

I hope your friend knows that was made with total LOVE!! Very nice.

quilting really is a work of love, isn't it? we just push and push, bc we know eventually we will have something beautiful...sounds like having a baby, don't it? :lol:

Beautiful :D :D :D Juline looks very pleased with her new table runner :D :D :D

Even with all the extra time, it's very nice. I love the star fabric you got from Joann's. I loved your story, made me laugh! From the smile, it looks like she loves it!

Very nice.

Sue!!! What can I say but WAY COOL BEANS!!! I love it...and you my dear ROCK!!

That is beautiful. I love your fabric. So patriotic. Great job. Also, I love your FMQ.

Very festive ! Great job :thumbup: Well worth all the ripping...
Sharon

Very nice! I love the striped binding!

Thanks! As you can see, I don't subscribe to the "DON'T CROSS ANY LINES" rule of FMQ! LOL

I do too! It was another happy mistake...when I was trimming off the excess batting & backing, I forgot to leave some to "fill" the binding. So I ended up with almost all of the binding on the front, but I think it shows off the stripes better that way, so all's well that ends well! lol

Oh my goodness ..... You had a time of it making this runner. It turned out wonderful for giving you so much trouble. Was there anything that could have gone wrong that didn't? What a lucky friend to have such a friend as you. I might just have changed gears and took her to lunch instead ... LOL!

Great tablerunner and great story. Made me giggle. I just love red, white and blue!

That story could make it's own reality show! Glad you included the close-up of the fabrics so we could see how they really look like they were made to go together. A beautiful job and I like your solution to not having it quite done -- take more than one binding and let her pick as if that's what you planned all along. She must be so happy with it.

My son is a former Marine, so I love anything patriotic and stars. For all your woes, it looks awesome! My Sampler Quilt has a blue fabric with yellow gold stars. I'll try to remember to take a pic and post.

Well done for persevering - a lesser (no quilter) mortal might have given up! I love all the starry fabrics too.

What a pretty table runner!! And would you believe I have the blue and red fabrics that you used? Now I'm off to find something white to go with them -- sigh -- this Board is just killing me :roll: :roll:

That is one dandy tablerunner. Love the R,W and B theme. Just in time for Flag day in June and 4th of July!!!!