placemats and table runners

Aww Summertime! Too hot to have a big old quilt in your lap, quilting on it. So I tend to spend a lot of time piecing tops together. Sometimes though, I don't feel like making another quilt top to go into the 'needs quilting pile', so that's when I turn to place mats and table runners.

I've done a lot of testing out patterns this past year, and that leaves me with single blocks floating around. So what to do with them? Well, I could make up a sampler quilt....or, I could make some nice place mats with them.

Place mats are so easy and quick. They can be as fancy as you want, or as simple as you want. And as they are small, I can quilt them on my old treadle sewing machine without many problems. The tutorial Jess put on the blog last month is a great example.

Basically you take a nice sized quilt block, it can be any pattern, shape and size. Then you just add a bit to it to make it the size you want for place mats. Or you can place 2 or 3 blocks together in a row, add a bit to the ends and you have a table runner.

I've seen some really cute ones lately. In a magazine, I saw a neat hexagon place mat with a star in the center. I've also seen a large hexagon table runner, made up of 7 hexagon 'flowers' and then matching hexagon place mats. Place mats are also a great place to add some applique and to practice your handquilting.

Earlier this year on the Q&N forum, we had a great table runner swap. Two people got to know each other a bit and made table runners for Mothers day for each other. You can check out all the beautiful table runners here:

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=64

We plan on doing more table runner swaps later this year. So don't be a stranger! Come on over and visit with us, and join in some fun swaps.

Till next time...

Dorian