Bed Runner

Ooh, ooh, ooh, a finish! I just haven't had many of those this year. At least it seems like it. I started this quilt way back in July. It's been sitting around for the past few weeks with the binding ready to sew down. I had been saving it for a take-along task, but realized this week that I could just finish it because soon I'll have a couple more take-along projects. (Yes, two other projects close to a finish. I've been a quilting machine during our early winter weather.) So, after a couple of evenings of TV watching and staying cozy while binding, here it is: our bed runner, aka Gently Down the Stream Again, from a pattern by Christina Cameli. I say Again, because it's the third quilt I've made from this pattern. (Can you tell I love it?!)

I have to say that I am more pleased with my fabric selection for this quilt than I have been for any other quilt I have ever made. Everything came together so well. I went to the biggest independent fabric store in my area and challenged myself to do a pull from just that store (in addition to four pieces I had at home.) I stood back about 10 feet from the shelves and pulled whatever I thought might work in my scheme of coral, turquoise/aqua, gold and green. 

This is pretty much the entire pull. I had an aqua print and a light coral at home. I couldn't find a turquoise I liked, but I knew I had two at home. After I got home, I deleted the aqua fat quarter you see on the lower left. I had another darker turquoise in the mix, too, but I rejected it as too dark for the quilt. The thing that thrilled me most was that each of the more complex prints had other colors from the pull in them. My favorite is that aqua paisley. This really just "happened" as these are from a lot of different fabric lines. As you can see my favorite fabrics are tone-on-tone prints, but there was just enough movement in the prints to satisfy me. For the zigzag feature in the design, I chose Kona Bone because it matched our bedspread.

This quilt is built with strip sets, and laying them out to get varied combinations took a lot of space. I ran out of room on my banquet table and had to use my couch, too. Somewhere along the way, I figured out how many combinations of three you can make from 14 fabrics. Let's just say it's A LOT. (I can't find my notes, or I'd tell you)

To keep them all together, I used bobby pins. I had recently needed a couple of bobby pins for my hair. Of course, I had to buy a bunch because that was how they came, but they came in handy for this kind of project. I pulled out a few to keep in my vanity drawer, but the rest became a sewing notion. They are in this nifty little magnetic case. I love how you can make sewing notions out of all kinds of things.

I quilted the quilt sort of as recommended in the pattern, with squiggles in the zigzag area and mostly meanders with a few kinda, sorta flowers in the colorful parts. My rule was no picking out anything unless there was a major tension issue or pleats in the fabric. So there are some wonky stitches, but I don't care because we are wonky people and this is our quilt. Free motion quilting went fast because I could go from one end to the other without stopping except to change a bobbin. (So much to love about this pattern!) I used leftover fabric in strips for the binding, first laying pieces out around the quilt edge to make sure that a particular binding fabric didn't touch the same fabric in the body of the quilt.

Here are some close-ups of the front.

And my initials and date:

I chose to use Kona Bone on the back. Not sure exactly why--maybe a thought that a color would eventually crock onto the bedspread? Probably a ridiculous idea. Oh well. I didn't seem to have that worry when it came to the binding. Anyway, now that it's done, I love the back because it shows the quilting so well. 

Here's the back on the garage:

And some close ups:

So there you have it. But wait, how about some pictures on the bed?

I love how it looks with our green walls--and it's just the pop of color we need. I have some fabric left (there are a lot of cut-off edges as well as some extra triangles), so maybe a throw pillow is in the future--but don't hold your breath waiting.

Here are the stats:

Pattern: Gently Down the Stream by Christina Cameli. The pattern was in a magazine, but I think you can purchase it from her. I made my version longer and narrower.
Fabrics:  A variety (sorry, I'm not good at keeping track of them) plus Kona Bone.

Batting: Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 

Thread: Superior-- Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; King Tut in White Linen for quilting; Treasure in Old Lace for hand stitching binding.

Binding: 2 1/2 inches cut, double layer, machine sewn to front and hand stitched on back
Size: I forgot to measure (or maybe write down) the size before quilting; 83 1/4 inches by 27 5/8 inches after quilting. I don't plan to wash it until it needs it.

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer Treadle 115 for free motion quilting.

I learned one big thing with this quilt. If it's going to take a long time between start and finish, keep all notes in one good place so you can find them later when you want to write about it. Of course, that doesn't guarantee that I'll know what the notes say, as they are usually a kind of stream of consciousness/problem solving indecipherable scratch. 

We put the quilt on the bed last night. It felt good to have that extra bit of weight at the end of the bed. There is a mysterious elf at our house that often pulls our blankets off the bed--almost always on my side. Hmm. Well, that runner seemed to stay on the bed most of the night, but did slide off sometime in the wee hours. I'm blaming the elf. At least the bed looks pretty during the day.

It seems that no modern blog post would be complete without one of those swirl glamour shots, so here it is!

I'm linking up this week with Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and  Wendy of Wendy's Quilts and More for Peacock Party.

Have a good week. And if you are in the US, have fun preparing for Thanksgiving.

(I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.) 

Pink, I Think

As this month began, I was sure the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color was light/medium blue. You see, I had misread Angela's post last month when she said that blue is such a big color that it would take up two months. In my mind I read two consecutive months. So imagine my surprise to find that, no, this month's color is pink. I had planned to make both pink crumbs and pink butterfly parts, so I got right to work. It was a little challenging. I have a lot of old pinks. If you are roughly my age, you know that means dusty pink/mauve. I am so over those pinks. I like clear pinks now. But--and I just figured this out--I don't have many clear pinks because in my most recent quilts, I have cut my yardage so close, I have almost no modern scraps. I will admit that I had thought of buying some "scraps." But I didn't. And now that the blocks are done, they're not so bad. And I'm also thinking that to replenish my scraps with more modern bits, I should purposely buy a smidge more fabric than I need when I buy something new.

Here are my crumbs for the month:

I kept the contrast fairly low again, leaving out pale pinks and really dark ones. Here is one of the blocks with representatives from the other crumb colors.

And, of course, the butterflies. I had more flexibility with these, so lighter colors and clear prints showed up. Those pink and white prints are some of my favorites. As I was laying these out, I realized I could have sewed the upper and lower wings together. I'll catch them up next time the machine is out. I keep hoping for brown to make its appearance as the RSC color so I can stitch up those bodies. (Hint, hint, Angela)

And here they are with reps from the other colors. 

Those little blue wings are a bit lonely, but eventually they'll get their lighter blue partners.

So my July RSC is done! I didn't wait until the last day. Yippee! There is a reason. I wanted to get on to my next project. This one is for our bed. I've meant to make a runner since we painted our room a few years ago. We have green walls about the color of the greens below and a plain ivory bedspread. It needs a little color as well as a bit of extra weight when the weather's cooler (definitely not right now). I went out fabric shopping the other day, and whipped around the store grabbing whatever caught my fancy in the coral, yellow, green and teal ranges. (Unfortunately, my epiphany about buying a little extra did not occur to me until later, so there is low scrap potential from this one.)

I tried to vary the scale, but as usual, I ended up with a lot of smaller, tone-on-tone prints, but I think there's enough variation for what I'm making--Gently Down the Stream by Christina Cameli. I've made two of these before (you can see them here). Two of my fabrics are souvenirs from a trip I took up north a few years ago, and the two darker teals are from one of my grandson's baby quilts. I also bought a piece of Kona Bone for the accent strips. That's a new Kona for me. I needed something just slightly yellower than my usual Snow.

I can't wait to get started. But really I can. I have little kiddies visiting this weekend, so the sewing rooms are now the guest/play rooms. 

Okay, I'll be linking up with Angela at So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap. 

I hope you are having fun with projects old and new this month! Catch you later...