I finished this and gave it to dear Dallas A. for her 40th birthday. Colors according to her kitchen, I am hoping it fits in! Simple design, quilting along the triangles to give it a bit of joosh. Backed with recycled batik and bound with a coordinating fabric. I like how it turned out, and hope she does too!
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Frankly, I did not do most of the work on this runner. The lovely Margie P. frequently gifts me scraps and bits, and the main panel of this runner was included in a stash a few months ago. I just didn't want to see the work go to waste--- i like the color combo and design generally-- so I trimmed it up, quilted and bound it, and it is now waiting for a new home.
A bright and sunny table runner for my dear friend Julia S. to mark her running in a federal by-election with the NDP party in February 2019. (Yes, I know it is now August--- I have been SUPER delinquint in posting updates lately). Made a simple pattern of half square triangles with some pre-cuts gifted to me by my aunt, and created an inner border and binding with some upcycled fabric I have used in other projects (bonus marks if you can guess which ones!) The election went a different way than we wanted, but hopefully this runner serves as a happy reminder of a very hard-fought and fun campaign!
A quick and fun table runner for Susan S. as a thank you for the fabric she bestowed upon me. She is moving back to the prairies, and had collected some African fabric that she never got to use and offer to give it to me. I of course said yes, but wanted to make her a little something to say thank you.
So essentially, I cut out the elephant panels from a swath of wax batik (making sure that each person at the end of the runner had an elephant right-side-up), framed it out with some colorful fabric I got a long time ago in South Africa, and did some simple quilting to frame out the elephants. I bound it in some funky mottled orange cotton, and bob's your uncle! Hope she enjoys this reminder of some of her travels--- and thanks for the fun fabric, Susan! :) Channeling my inner "Madmen" aesthetic and inspired broadly by Angela Water's placemat design from this video (but I made runners instead of placemats, and did not do quilt-as-you-go construction and instead sandwich method), I had a blast playing around with these runners, both in terms of quilting and color ways.
The blue and white design I made specifically for Malaika N. as she transitioned out of her role working with me at the Refugee Hub. She loves mid-century modern design, so I thought this could be a fun piece to make for her. I chose darker batiks for the 'background' (8 inch and 4 inch strips-- I like the offset, non-centered nature of how the finished facing comes out, but you could make it even if you like) and went with lighter fabrics for the 'diamonds' (6.5 inch strips) to get a bit of a contrast in the design. I then created strip sets, angling the joining of the units at 45 degree angles. I took some time on the placement of the strips so that there was a good variety and as few as possible matching fabrics sitting next to each other, and then sewed them all together. For Malaika's I added a small navy border to square it all up, sandwiched it with a fun contrasting fabric and cotton batting, and quilted simply in the diamond shapes to accentuate the pattern. Made a binding out of a complimentary fabric and bob's your uncle! I enjoyed this enough that I thought I would try making some other versions in brighter colors and different quilting. I love them all! Great way to play around with some favourite fabrics and putting rich contrast-ish colors together in a pleasing way. Hope Malaika enjoys her version, and I will enjoy paying around more with this eye-candy of a design! I had some nice colorful bits lying around from a variety of sewing projects lately, and thought I would put them to good use. Enter the scrappy table runner! To be honest, I was planning to put this up on Etsy to sell, but I botched the seam where I turned it inside out, so decided to keep it for now. Basically, I started sewing bits of pieces together to make pieces swaths, and then connected them together in pleasing ways until I had a swath that was approximately runner-sized. Nothing more complicated than that in terms of technique-- I was just looking to use up some scraps and create something pleasing to the eye. :) Double stitching around the border, sandwiched with light batting and backed in a substantial purple cotton, this should wear well, and looks nice on my dining room table with the telephone wire bowl I got in Joburg. So maybe it is fate that I screwed up the seam. Either way, I am happy to have turned some bits and pieces into something practical and beautiful. On to the next project!
Made this 'masculine' (?) table mat for a friend, Ken C. as a small house warming gift as he moved into his first condo. I took some of my favourite fabrics from a tight color palate of (masculine?) blues and greys, and pieced them together into fun little diamonds, separated by a panel of west African batik, bordered by a cool panelled blue fabric, backed with cool blue stripes and bound with a simple grey binding. To be honest, I am not thrilled with my corners on this one, but like how it came out generally, and enjoyed hand-sewing the binding on the back.
But most importantly, does this blog post title reference to James Bond make this more butch and make up for the fact that I have gifted a homemade quilted table mat to a 30-something urban gentleman? Indubitably! While I don't have a pic of the final version, I wanted to post the pics I did get of my effort to do a runner that was as restrained as I think I have ever been in terms of design/ color palate. Operating under such restraint is not my strength.... but I wanted to try it out to challenge myself, and so I made this for my fellow quilting buddy Margaret P. for her birthday, as someone who has seen first hand the rainbow-avalanche that usually dominates my projects.
I went with a soft mellow yellow, punctuated by small triangles of embellishes batiks--- the complimentary spring green triangles all going in one direction, and the bright embellished pink facing a different direction. Is this what modern looks like? I don't know.... But I had fun experimenting with the piecing! I quilted the piece on the diagonal with variegated green thread, and bound it all with binding made from the mellow yellow fabric to have a seamless edge. But I couldn't help some contrasting color somewhere.... and backed the whole thing in a crazy tie-dyed purple. What is wrong with me? Sigh. Anyway, I enjoyed the experiment and will likely try replicating the general idea. Hope you enjoy Margie! I made a runner for my blue-loving aunt Chris L. a few years ago, but after being much loved and washed, it was in need of repair. (In addition to the frequent washings, I also blame my too-small seam allowances when I was getting back into sewing. Live and learn!) So she gave it back to me, and I re-sewed it... which actually resulted in me ripping most of it apart and switching up the accent color palate, including a cheery yellow fabric instead of the previous green (wish I had taken a pick before I switched things up), bordering it with the accent yellow color as well, and quilting more extensively to make sure things stay tacked down. Hope this refresh provides a happy burst of color to the breakfast nook!
A table mat/ wall hanging made for Dean M. for his birthday this month. Inspired by some of the cool-toned landscape art on his walls (made by his mother!) as well as his sparky personality, I made a lightening bolt cutting through a relatively neutral palate of upcycled pieces of blues, greys and purples, transitioning between darker and lighter colors. I quilted the bolt and borders with a variegated purple and blue thread and made the binding out of matching fabric to provide a relatively seamless border. Still not happy with my binding corners, but practice makes kinda perfect-er!
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