Vegetable Spiral Table Runner

I have made this pattern for a Spicy Spiral Table Runner several times before. It takes eight fat quarters and a wedge ruler, either 9° or 10°. I used a 10° wedge ruler. These are the eight fat quarters I selected from my stash, cutting each fat quarter into four strips of the appropriate width per the pattern. From left to right the eight vegetables are red onions, filberts (also known as hazelnuts), pumpkins, potatoes, sliced cucumbers, yellow squash, peas in pods, and green bell peppers

After sewing the eight strips together to form a striped rectangle I sliced the rectangle into a series of wedges which when joined form two spirals, one from red onions to green peppers and one in the reverse color order. Pressing direction is important so I have shown the reverse side of each half.

Then the two halves are ready to be sewn together into a spiral. Next step is to trim the jagged edges and finish off with batting and backing.

In my fabric stash, I happened to have a panel of vegetables. I forgot to take an intact picture of it before using it for the backing but here it is. I thought the small sacrifices of the "Ve" from the Farm Fresh Vegetables banner and the corner edges of some images (radish, tomato, peppers) was worth using this panel because of how well it fit with the veggie theme.

Once backed and turned right side out, each side of the spiral table runner looks like this.

My quilting plan was simple and straightforward. I stitched in the ditch of every other wedge seam. I thought this would look best when used with the spiral side up. Since it is in the ditch a photo does not show it very well. I also stitched from the reverse side around the boxes for each of the six vegetable "seed packets" and around the top and middle rectangles of the vegetable banners. This stitching option show if the table runner is used with the panel side up. In tiny font, I wrote my name and year in the point above the tomato packet. The following photo also shows some of the quilting lines.

The Spicy Spiral Table Runner pattern that I used is still available on Etsy. It is an "oldie but goodie". I've made previous table runners using that pattern. Their associated links are: 
http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2011/11/spiral-table-runner.html
http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2012/01/turquoise-and-grey-spiral-runner.html
More details of the intermediate construction steps are in these blog posts.

Third Saturday of December 2021

Beginning April 2020, my quilt guild members began a tradition of hanging quilts in the front of their homes on the third Saturday of the month as a source of enjoyment for the community and as a thank you for the essential workers during the pandemic. My initial post about this practice is dated 4/22/20.

For "Hang Your Quilt Day" this December, I chose to hang two Christmas quilts, both of which I have displayed before. From left to right these two quilts are Simple Gifts 49" x 68" and Grinch 45" x 72". More detail about each of these quilts is in my blog posts that are dated 6/10/15 and 7/2/14 respectively.

Christmas Elves

Those adorable stuffed characters of a boy elf and a girl elf are smiling, beguiling, even begging to be held or brighten up someone's holiday home, accompanied by their three pet polar bears and three pet penguins. I made up two sets of them for my two households of grandchildren. They are from a panel by Moda designer Stacy Iest Hsu.

These panels always take me longer to cut out than I remember from other Stacy Hsu dolls. Although sewing them is a cinch, I find this array of tools sure helps me with the turning, and finessing, and stuffing. Those long thin arms and legs are a challenge; but after making all her released panels so far, I have gotten the knack of it. The Turn-it-All helps "right-side-out" the long thin appendages and the gripping forceps help grab and stuff the fluffy fiber fill down into them.

I have also learned one panel per household, not one per each of six grandchildren, is sufficient. Even my penchant for the repetition tendencies of a quilter draw the line at six times! My past repertoire includes these previous sixteen panels I made up for my grandkids, who reside in two households: Lil Heroes, Howdy, Hansel & Gretel, Goldilocks& the Three Bears, Bunnies, Coral the Mermaid, Lil Red, Princesses, and Castle.

The panel of elves has many more pieces when you count the hats, clothes and pets.

This project led to scraps from the two panels. The illustration of the boy elf and the girl elf and the mini-scene of the two of them at the North Pole are too cute to just toss. Similarly the green border around the panel can be incorporated elsewhere, perhaps as a sashing or perhaps for placemats or pillows when paired with another fabric or two. Look closely; there are even cute tiny candy canes in many colors along the selvage. That border totals 258 discontinuous inches with varying seam allowances. It has a collection of seasonal phrases: Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Be Merry, Ho Ho Ho, Jingle Bells, Fa La La La La, Tis the Season. How could I possibly toss all those cheerful greetings in the trash? I couldn't. (I do have to store these scraps now. Bah, humbug!) But even I was able to toss out the printed instructions.

Gray Spiral Table Runner

I have made this pattern for a Spicy Spiral Table Runner several times before. It takes eight fat quarters and a wedge ruler, either 9° or 10°. In my first experience per my 11/4/2011 post (which was – yikes –  ten years ago) not only did I goof and need to add a ninth fat quarter, but "I bought the pattern twice and the ruler three times with trips to two quilt stores and a quilt festival." This time went much more smoothly. My daughter had just hung new dining room curtains and asked that I make her one of these spiral runners in shades of gray. These are the eight fat quarters I selected from my stash and cut each into four strips of the appropriate width per the pattern.

Since there is a range of lights to darks, I chose a variegated thread in grays. I know the thread does not really show in piecing but I still often do try to match. I then pieced together my strips in the dictated color/width order, until I had two light and two dark strata. 

I then cut these strata into wedges using a 10° ruler.  Sewing the wedges together, two at a time, then four at a time gradually formed one light and one dark half-spiral.

Joining the light and dark halves formed a full spiral. Those jagged edges would be trimmed off later to form a smooth curve.

Instead of binding, I stacked three layers in this order  – batting on the bottom, backing right side up, and pieced top right side down – pinned them together, and cut out the spiral shape. I splurged a few years ago at the 2017 Houston Quilt Festival and bought Handi Batting Scissors by HandiQuilter. They have a 5-inch straight-edge cutting blade and ergonomically designed handle for ease in cutting. When you have a tool you need to use it, right? These specialty scissors are offset enough that they cut around that unusual shape like a dream. I use them for every project that requires batting.

After sewing these three layers together I turned them right side out, pressed, and let the assembly mellow for a few days while I waited to be inspired by a stitching pattern for the quilting. I had quilted two quilts (Christmas Cars -12/18/20 in Dec 2020 and It's a Party - 2/19/21 in Feb 2021) with a circle template. They both had pleasing outcomes and so I wanted to get more practice with the larger BIG HQ Swiss Cheese Template. I chose the largest size circle, 2 ¼".

I had agonized over my stitching pattern decision and then tried to figure out how to space and line up those circles in a pleasing fashion. I inserted a photo of the spiral runner pieced top into PowerPoint and then overlaid circles to see how it would look. I wanted to follow the flow of the shape yet be reasonable about the work involved. Those jagged outcropping are ¾" before being trimmed off and I used them to scale my 2¼" circle diameter in PowerPoint. The blue line midway indicates where the light and the dark halves were joined.

Once I figured out a way to mark their placement by locating the center of each piece and then connecting the dots; the circles went in rather smoothly along the curve I had generated. The only problem was that those stitched circles did not show up! After minimal deliberation I chosen to quilt with the same gray variegated thread. All my stitching fretting had been for naught. I took a picture of each half in orthogonal lighting and with a good imagination you can see the circles. Wishful thinking, but perhaps they will puff up more after washing.

The circles show up slightly better on the back, which is the tape measure fabric. Following is a full runner photo followed by a closeup of those camouflaged circles.

These were the majority of my leftovers from cutting out those 10° wedges. Of course I could not bring myself to toss these out. I played with them and formed two "mini-somethings".

I quilted the "mini-somethings" from the back on my domestic along the lines of the tape measure print. I think this stitching pattern may very well be more effective than the circles; it was easier, too.

I do not plan to make a grosgrain ribbon label as is my habit for my quilts; instead I plan to write my initials and the year completed in fine-line fabric marker in an inconspicuous location on the back of the table runner itself and the two mini-somethings. The pseudo-labels will be short and to the point – DIC 2021.

I think picking out the fabrics was the messiest part. These are the options I spread out, considered and rejected, having to refold and put all of them away. Half-yard cuts are on the left and fat quarters are on the right.

Since the four strips cut from each fat quarter was 3" or less in width, there remains ~6" or more by ~22" or so half-fabric width from each fat quarter. Here those fat strips are folded neatly, ready for another study in gray. I suppose I could make a couple placemats but I am tired of these fabrics for now. My present challenge is to find an inventive place to store them so they are not forgotten. So for now my Eight Shades of Gray will be stashed away.

These are previous projects using the same table runner pattern. Their associated links are: http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2011/11/spiral-table-runner.html

http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2012/01/turquoise-and-grey-spiral-runner.html

http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2016/12/vineyard-furrows.html
http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2016/12/vineyard-furrows-completed.html

The Spicy Spiral Table Runner pattern that I used is still available on Etsy. It is an "oldie but goodie".

Third Saturday of November 2021

For "Hang Your Quilt Day" this November, I cut back to displaying half the number of quilts I'd displayed for the Third Saturday of November in 2020. The two I did show this year are repeats, again echoing a Thanksgiving theme. 

The Pumpkin Time quilt hanging on the left measures 42" x 50" and was made from a several-year-old panel and some re-purposed checkerboard blocks from a previous project. The central pathway in each of the five images leads to a quaint home.  My post about sewing Pumpkin Time is dated 11/22/2020. The checkerboard quilt hanging on the right measures 40" x 40" and its title is Gobble. The nine Ohio Star blocks that make it up have novelties fabrics of turkey and Indian corn. My 11/8/2020 post gives closeups and more details. I took the photos again today when there was better lighting in the afternoon.

Beginning April 2020, my quilt guild members began a tradition of hanging quilts in the front of their homes on the third Saturday of the month as a source of enjoyment for the community and as a thank you for the essential workers during the pandemic. My initial post about this practice is dated 4/22/20. I have participated every month since then except this past October 2021 when we were away. Instead I blogged an alternative indoor October 2021 display, not as visual but still remembering the essential workers.

Surprise Fabric Acquisition

My husband and I were visiting our son's family in Southern California, approximately 400 miles away, a few weeks ago in mid-October. We were dropping off our seven and five year old granddaughters at school one morning when the grandfather of another child noticed the denim over-shirt my husband was wearing which has QUILTER'S HUSBAND embroidered in an arc across the back. The man, named Dano like from Hawaii Five-0, tapped my husband and asked, "Sir, is your wife a quilter? Would she be interested in some fabric my wife inherited from a guild member's estate. She is selling it for $1 to $2 a yard. Our house is a couple blocks from here. Do you want to come and look?" Well...YEAH!

We drove over in our car and Dano rode with us. His wife was a bit surprised but pleased with her husband's ingenuity and she opened the garage door to tubs filled to the brim with fabric, tidily folded in zip lock bags with the yardage marked. I reined myself in somewhat, but here is what I bought. When I brought the fabric lengths home I re-folded them per my system and labeled the yardage accordingly.

Four bowling themed pieces totaling 5 ⅝ yards ...

A dotted circle print, a Christmas print, a fantasy print, and a swirl totaling 10 ½ yards ...

Prints with balls of yarn, paw prints, purple lava, and Christmas windows totaling 10 yards...

A 60" wide stripe equaling 1 ⅞ yard ...

I happily walked off with 28 yards of fabric for which I paid $30. Some was from JoAnn's and I noted it on my tags so I knew to expect different shrinkage and color fade but certainly usable. I am most happy that my husband is a walking advertisement! He was bemused and glad 😊that we were driving 🚗and not flying ✈.