Christmas Table Runner (gift!)

I made this!

So, last year I bought all this fabric to make a table runner as a gift for my dad and his wife. 

And then I broke my leg before I even cut it out. And then I got covid. And then I pretty much slept through the summer. And then school started again and I was also taking classes, writing my dissertation proposal, presenting at a conference, trying to get my child through college apps, getting a couple of my moles biopsied, also trying to help the child get her driver's license. 

Suffice to say, the pile sat. 

As did this cryptic note:

But finally I re-found the site I had found as my guide becuase, believe it or not, this craft was far enough outside my comfort zone that I could not just wing it. 

So, I figured it out, and sat down to cut the pieces for my squares.

Well, actually, I measured them and then ripped them, because I know accuracy is important for quilting... 

Dear reader, they were still not all the same sizes. 

But, I made the squares! Perfectly imperfect? 

But this meant I had to figure out the next step, which involved cutting triangles. 

Fortuitously, I thought to lay the whole thing out on the ironing board, becuase (after I'd ended up ruining some by making the the wrong size) I hadn't even cut out enough. Whoops. I was super worried about having enough fabric, and about not being able to replace it (becuase who knows if there would he any left a full year later)but it worked out. Just barely. No scraps left of that one!

And then borders? I legit messed up this measurement when buying fabric (maybe? Or maybe this wasn't how I had originally intended it to look?) And so this is also every single scrap of that fabric, and there’s a seam in the centers, and I had to add corner squares to the design to make it work. Good thing I had accidentally made a couple too many squares at the start!

And then I had to figure out quilting? This is where things really started to go weird. I laid out all of the layers on the ironing board and safety pinned them all in place. Then I just sewed all of the seams. 

It's okay.

Not great. But okay. 

Trimmed down all the excess fluff, cut all of the millions of loose strings, and then put the binding on!

Yeah, not perfect. But I think it looks nice?

That's my table. Theirs is dark wood, so I think it will pop more. 

So that's my quilting adventure! 

Pretty sure my brother is the only one who actually reads this, but just in case I'll save this in my drafts folder until after itit'been gifted.