Christmas in July Projects Done and Design Wall Monday

If you read yesterday's post, you know that I've been working on and teaching Christmas in July projects. Although these two are not technically Christmas projects, they are winter-themed, so I'm including them in my list of Christmas projects done early. :-)

This first table runner is called Bethlehem and the pattern is by Doug Leko and is in the book Once Upon a Memory

The runner measures approximately 14" x 42" and I find that it's a good size for our table - not too long and not too wide. See all those flying geese? There are a total of 80 and they measure 1" x 2" finished. Yikes! That's a lot of small geese. 

I did some very simple quilting on this runner. I simply quilted straight lines (sort of echo lines) around all the triangle units. Instead of trying to keep a perfect 1/4" seam, I used the edge of my walking foot. Sooooo much easier!

I stitched in the ditch (or close to that!) of all those flying geese triangles and figured out a way to stitch all the way down one side and back up the other. By doing that, I created a square in a square look in the small center squares. It was so easy and fast and I'm very happy with the results.

This next runner is Winter Wonderland, a Judy Niemeyer pattern. This runner measures 20" x 74" and because it's so long, I'll most likely use this as a bed runner. 

This is paper pieced, but it is very easy to do. And, since there are only four blocks, it's pretty darn quick too. I fell in love with this pattern when it was first released back in 2011 and like the updated version (2107) even more. I'm happy to have finally made this and since I have extra papers, I'm planning to make a pillow and small wall hanging. 

It's difficult to see in this pictures, but I quilted a swirly loop design from the top to bottom in the light blue centers, and then I stitched right along the inside edge of each one. I also stitched right along the inside edges of the dark blue centers, and then I stitched right along the outside edge of the blue snowflake points. (I knew that stitching in the ditch was going to be a challenge for me, so I just dropped my feed dogs, held my breath, and stayed as close to the edges as I could. It's not perfect, but it looks good to me. Besides, snowflakes aren't perfect and no two are alike, so it's ok if mine aren't perfect.) 

  

To make the pieced parts of the blocks stand out, I quilted a meander in all the background fabric and I'm very happy with how that looks.

I'm taking a break from Winter and Christmas projects and have this panel up on the design wall. I'm contemplating how I want to use it. I have a few ideas and some coordinating fabrics, but we'll see what I decide after looking at it for a couple of days. I'll keep you posted!

Have you used this panel? If so, what did you do? I'd love to see pictures.

What are you working on today?

Check out the quilting eye candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making