Table Runner for Dar Finished – DrEAMI too

In spite of the weather conspiring against us, we were able to get a project finished to post today.  If we were “that’ kind of people, I might say HA-HA to the weather.  I may also add that I may have that tendency deeply buried now that I’m older and wiser and no longer in grade school. <wink>  Being a better person really does take work, doesn’t it?!  Back to the topic of the table runner for Dar and how it turned out!  Oh yeah, and the weather can bite me.

This is a delightful picture with the window open and no sun, plus the IRON on for this project and it’s still cloudy!  We celebrated like, well, like we were young again and could celebrate things lively.  Woot woot!

Fabric from Dar

My cousin’s friend, Dar, had to downsize which included her sewing and quilting supplies.  We were gifted a LOT of fabric and we knew it was much loved by Dar since it was her stash.  Sharing it with other quilters is the ideal situation, don’t you think?!  The horror of our stash ending up sale priced at a rummage sale for a nickel or less would send any quilter over the edge.  Gravely undervalued is a true fear for all the beautiful stuff we’ve hoarded for years, right?!  So, we decided to make a nice table runner for Dar to celebrate her new home.  Remember these goodies?!!

Cutting Department for Dar

Sue got busy selecting and cutting the fabrics for Dar.  The song Jim Dandy to the Rescue springs to mind – Sue Dandy to the Rescue.  Lickety-split she had them all cut and assembled for me.  Then the nationwide heat spell hit and sewing ceased. 

We even checked the values in a monotone photo to decide on which fabric to remove or not remove.  That darn heat spell also impacted our memory because we had no idea where we stood on this project (and others).  That’s what happens after a week away, I guess.

Weather Break for Dar

Not just for Dar but for us happened on Monday.  Imagine this – nice, low dew point in the low 50s (ahh!) and high temperature for the day of only 75.  Sweet!  Let’s just say there wasn’t a window that wasn’t ajar in the house.  Sewing happily ensued in the nice and cool sewing room.  Ironing also happened as you saw in the above photo and it was almost fun to do so.

Pedal to the metal, a pieced top in mere moments it seemed.  You may ask, How did we decide which layout to use for the table runner?  Saved PINs on Pinterest, of course.

I had a picture saved with no link to who may have originally made the piece.  I hate that when links don’t work, so if you know who made that quilt please let me know!  Several searches have turned up nothing.  Anyhow, while the picture depicts an adorable quilt worthy of Dominic or Addison <grin> we chose a smaller version.  We didn’t need exact measurements, either, because we made up our own.

Table Runner Specifics for Dar

The ever-efficient cutting department and I decided on the four-patch finished size and added borders.  We wanted the finished width to be 12″ and the length to be 48″ approximately.  Easy peasy, right?!  Normally, strip piecing would be our method for the four-patch but Sue cut 5″ squares from several fabrics.  Randomly sewn together in pairs with seams pressed for nesting, the first four-patch formed quickly.  We add 3″ wide sashing as well as borders and called it good to go.

Finally a Dar Finish

Swift layering and an easy backing decision made while no angst over quilting was happening.   We chose one of the prints as a backing and binding fabric.

I quilted the piece with straight lines using my walking foot, using Aurifil 50 weight thread.  The rows were spaced about an inch apart, so not too dense nor too loose.

We made it, just in the knick of time to post and link to Sandra’s mmm Quilts website as a DrEAMi project. 

A wonderful finish that we are happy with and hope Dar is as well.  We’ll deliver it to cousin Vicki, and she can pass it on to Dar.  We wish her and her husband much happiness in their new downsized home.  While this has been stitched with her fabrics we also included many wishes for blessing and happiness.  One final shot with it on top of my mom’s hope chest.  I think the plant adds a nice touch!

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