Meadow Mist Designs: Noteworthy Double Slice Quilt and Xmas Runner Finished

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Noteworthy Double Slice Quilt and Xmas Runner Finished

Well, I have made a little dent in my to-do list of handmade xmas presents and have two finishes to share with you today; my Noteworthy Double Slice quilt for my Dad and my Christmas quilted runner for my Mom.

First up: Noteworthy Double Slice Quilt

I won a layer cake of Hometown by Sweetwater by Moda earlier this year (or maybe even late last year) and it has been sitting on my shelves waiting for the right project. I decided that the fabrics would be great for my Dad (minus the magenta prints which I took out).

I was originally going to pick a pattern with some background solid fabric but when I auditioned some background colors, there was not enough contrast with white or cream and the dark gray did not really go. Therefore, I decided that the best pattern would be one that used all of the layer cake prints with no background fabrics with a bonus of being simple and quick. I used the YouTube video of the Double Slice Layer Cake pattern by the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I must say, if you want a quick and easy top that this is a great candidate. I had the 6x6 block configuration finished in no time and there were very few seams to match. I added a 5.5" border around the blocks to make the quilt a little larger and backed it with a blue Target sheet (to save some $$). I have heard some horror stories about sewing with sheets as backings, but I have never had a problem. The quilt is about 67" x 67" so it is a very generous lap size.

I decided to try out a new quilting pattern, making rows of loops. I first practiced some then marked lines 2.25" apart down the quilt to use as the top and bottom of my loop rows. I rolled the quilt up and stuck it in the throat space of the sewing machine and sewed from left to right. I have a Bernina with a larger size throat space so it was not too difficult to wrestle the quilt around, but my wrists were sore after I finished (I quilted 30 rows of loops and it took my between about 3 and 5 minutes a row).

This was my December: A Lovely Year of Finishes Finish. Here is my post about my December goal.

Second: Christmas Runner

Using some left over jelly roll strips from the Nature's Christmas collection by Sandy Gervais for Moda (left over from my Xmas Granny Square Quilt), I made some Daniela Blocks (using the strip tube ruler) for a simple Christmas runner for my Mom. The dark blues in this line match her couches perfectly and I like how this collection of prints reads Christmas without being overly red/green typical Christmas. I pieced the backing using some extra strips so the runner is actually two sized (then had a total fail and forgot to take pictures of the second side). My parents have a small kitchen table so this runner will go across the whole table and hang about 4" on each side.

I debated and debated on how to quilt the runner. I wanted quilting to highlight the piecing so I decided to simply echo some of the piecing seams which gave the runner a nice look and was also pretty quick.