Design Wall Monday

I've been working on some smaller pieces and here are two of them. The pattern is called Straight & Easy Table Runner and Place Mats and the designer is Nicole Chambers-Kaya (Tiger Lily Press).

The table runner pictured above is sewn together, but the one below is not. (I do have it sewn together, but I forgot to get a picture of it.)

The pattern was written with pre-cut 1 1/2" strips in mind and although I didn't have pre-cuts cut to that size, that's what I used for the top table runner. I decided that I wanted to see what it would look like using 2 1/2" strips, so I adjusted the pattern and the results are my second table runner.

I had a package of 40 - 2 1/2" strips called Citrus Blast from Blank Quilting and since there were two of each strip, I divided the package in two and cut one set down to 1 1/2" and left the other whole. Aren't these strips pretty?!?

The two tops are sewn and I'm in the quilting process.  The one pictured below is the 2 1/2" strip version and I'm simply using the edge of my walking foot and quilting down both sides of the seam. For the narrow strip version, I'm going to quilt down the middle of each strip. Easy, peasy!

I'm using a variegated thread (Superior Threads, Rainbows #801) on both sides and love how it looks. The backing is from my stash, and that makes me happy.  Yay!

I plan to bind these in a solid Kona purple.

My goal is to finish quilting these today and get the binding machine sewn on so I have hand-work to do tomorrow evening when I get home from another umbrella workshop. It'll be kind of late when I get home and I know I'll need something to relax me. Binding will be perfect.

On another note, I just realized that I didn't share my American Honor contest winnings here on the blog. On April 30th, I was notified that my Freedom Rings quilt was a finalist. I was thrilled and honored beyond belief, but even more so when I was told that I won second place. Woo Hoo!!

Imagine my surprise when I came home one day last week and found this big package waiting for me on the kitchen table. I didn't remember ordering anything so I was intrigued.

Then I noticed the address label...

Oh my goodness! Look at all these goodies that were packed inside this quite heavy box!

Four - 20 piece fat quarter bundles of Starlet

Four - 20 piece fat quarter bundles of Fabric Illusions

Four - 12 piece fat quarter bundles of Primitive Basics

Four - 40 piece designer rolls of Sumatra Batiks II

One - 13 piece (12 fat quarters and 1 panel) bundle of the American Honor fabrics

Look at that haul! My mind is certainly swirling with ideas for all this fabric.

I do know that at least one bundle from each fabric will be used for a donation quilt, if not more. I can't think of a better way to say "Thank You" to Blank Quilting for these prizes.

Blank Quilting also donated $100, in my name, to the America's Mighty Warriors program. WOW!!

And a follow-up from last week...

I still have not gotten a really good picture of the T-shirt quilt I made for the local Harley Davidson dealership. It was too big for me to get a good one here, especially since the weather was not great that day, so I stopped in that the shop the other day, but the sun was shining on it and kind of messed up the picture. Here's what I did get though.

One of the workers at the shop shared his picture with me, but you can't really see the whole quilt, including the orange flange binding. I'll try and stop in later this week and get better pictures.

I was told that tickets are selling well (close to $1000 since May 13th) and they feel confident that they will reach their $10,000 goal by Labor Day. Next week is Ohio Bike Week which brings thousands of visitors to the area and they know from past events that they will sell a lot of tickets during that time. All proceeds are going to a local charity - Nehemiah Partners of Sandusky

I feel honored to have been asked to make this quilt because this is such a wonderful program they are supporting. I made a similar quilt for the owners last year. It was a gift from the staff and they all really liked it. We decided to make the raffle quilt large (queen size) and keep it simple to appeal to more people. I agreed with that and think that the ticket sales have shown that we made the right decision. 

What are you working on today?

To see what others are creating today, check out the Design Wall Monday posts at

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

(Yay! Judy took over Design Wall Monday from Judy L)

and

Beth's Monday Making