Christmas Countdown - December

So once again I've been joining in with Allie's Christmas Through The Year - the final installment!

Want to see my roundup of what I've made?

1 - 6: Teacup candles

7-8: 2 sets of wax tarts for burners

9: Cross stitch cushion

10: Table runner

11: Wine Bottle Cosy

12-13: Wash bags

14-19: Spa Kits

Which actually adds up to more than 19 presents, because the spa kit itself is a bag and contains:

20-25: Spa slippers

26-31: Eye mask

32-37: Crocheted wash cloth

38-47: Homemade soap

48-57: Home made bath bombs

And there's more!!  In the photographless category we have:

58-63: Glass candles

64-70: Birdfeeders

Not a bad effort!  I've still got some work to do, but I've still got a few days (including two full days where I don't have to go to work).  My list of things to make is:

1. Finish off the 6 glass candles I've made (just topping up around the wick)

2. Sew up the glasses cases

3. Crochet 3 x scrubbies

4: Crochet 1 x washcloth

5: Crochet 1 x keyboard duster

6: Crochet Yoda ami

7: Crochet ami pig

8: Finish the bird feeders

9: Assemble cookies in jars

10: Assemble the reinbeer

Numbers 6 and 7 can be left off if I run out of time, so I'm feeling pretty confident that Christmas will be ready!

table runner

Well, I have had a shit day.  Excuse my language but it was shit.  I'm using that as my excuse for the rubbish title to this post.  Ah well, call a bucket a bucket and all that.  This post is about a table runner.  Mind you, with Sew, Mama, Sew's giveaway week going on, I doubt anyone will read it anyway!  Oh, and ladies, I know I've gone silent on you but I'm behind with blog reading and emails, I'm speeding through the reading but not commenting much, I do apologise.

Can anyone guess what this is?  Oh, I told you in the title didn't I?  And then again above.  No prizes for guessing then.  I pieced this Petit Ecole table runner months ago but it sat there in the corner of my craft room, waiting.  Last weekend I knew the time had come for me to quilt it.  I was scared.

I had to piece a back too as I didn't have a piece of fabric long enough with this being about 60inches long.  So I pieced the back, did the world's most rubbishest basting.  Took the pins out and basted again, marginally better.  And I quilted.  I did straight lines about a quarter of an inch to either side of the straight seams.  I say about a quarter of an inch as my piecing was truly rubbish.  I didn't think it looked finished so I quilted along the triangles too.

That's the back in case you didn't guess.  You know what?  I bloody love it!  Rubbish points and mismatched seams and wonky quilting and all.

But you know what's not rubbish?  My binding!!  I sewed it on the front by machine, then hand sewed it to the back and I'm really proud of it, it looks great!

The corners not so much, I did struggle with hand sewing them on the back, but who's going to examine the corners of my binding?  Well OK, any passing members of the local quilting guild might, but I don't think my brother gets many of them in his kitchen.

See what I mean about the corners?  It does look pretty good though, doesn't it?  I know, I know, that quilting in the bottom right of the photo above is probably making you want to cry, but me, I bloody love it!

Why didn't someone warn me this quilting business is addictive?

When I showed you my Union Flag cushion, I pointed out that I'd pieced the blue block rather haphazardly and that it only occurred* to me later that I could have done a pinwheel block.  I rather fancied a pinwheel block and I knew I had to get cracking on some Christmas presents so I cracked open my layer cake of Petite Ecole and using this tutorial at Modify Tradition I started cutting.  I made a test block first.  It doesn't meet very well in the middle, but hey, it's my first one!

*occurred is one of the words that I just can't spell.  I have no idea if this is right.

Test block done I started by cutting my squares, I did them 5" to make the most of my layer cake.  Then I pinned them all.  I had to draw the line in disappearing ink as I went along as it kept disappearing!

With the squares sewn down the middle, I cut them in half to make my HSTs.  Wahoo, I made HSTs!!

Then for the tedious part.  Open 'em up and iron those seams flat.  I hate this part!!  Anyone got any tips for making it easier than having to prize each seam apart with my finger?

Ta da!  Half an hour, a full water reserve of steam and lots of cursing later...

Here they are all trimmed and laid out with the trimmings.  I hated trimming them almost as much as the ironing bit.  Or maybe more.  No, ironing was worse.  I trimmed them down to 4.5 inches.

I matched them all up into a nice order, then I chain pieced them.

More tedious ironing!  Anyone want to come and be my seam-ironer?

I then laid them all out to see what they looked like and make sure I had enough pairs.

Then I sewed them into blocks.  It was not particularly successful.  Here are all the blocks with points that don't match.

Want a closer look at my imperfections?

And here are the ones that do match!  5 of them.  Yes, just 5.

But what was I making?  A table runner, imperfect points and all, this will be a Christmas present!  I've just got to wait for my quilting pins to arrive and I'll be backing and quilting and binding it.  Yes, binding it.  I'm scared!

P.S. there was more ironing of seams and trimming after the blocks were made, then more ironing when they were sewn in pairs, then more when I sewed the two columns together but it's tedious even typing about it.