A Modern Table Runner

It all started with this:

I came across a big tub of college textbooks in our capped garage. The moment I opened the lid, I knew they were mine. Children's Literature, Teaching Math in Elementary Grades, Roget's Thesaurus...all were nearly 35 years old! Time to go, right? I cut off the hard covers and bindings and threw the insides in the recycle bin. But at the very bottom lay the little book of lens papers. Likely from my freshman semester of Biology and dissecting frogs, pig hearts, and building fruit fly farms. Not one of the lens papers had been used...all 50 sheets were intact. 

They, too, went into the recycle bin. But soon came out!

I knew I could put them to use. I'd seen scraps sewn onto long strips of calculator paper. I didn't have any calculator paper, but Lord knows I have scraps and now I had lens paper! Plus, this paper is so much thinner that regular paper, so I didn't have to worry as much with my needle dulling. 

I  had no project in mind, but I just enjoyed gathering like colors to make blocks, that when trimmed, were about 4" x 6".  Mindless sewing is just the best, isn't it?

On the left are the blocks before tearing off the backing (lens) papers. The right photo is after I had them all sewn together and trimmed. 

Deciding this would make a great layout for a table runner, I kept the sashing simple. 

I used Kona Snow for the sashing and binding. 

I was very  tempted to use a striped fabric for the binding, 

but it pulled the attention away from the center blocks. 

I'm SO glad I went with the Kona Snow binding...it's perfect!

I followed Debbie Jeske's tutorial for organic straight line quilting. 

I love Debbie's style and tutorials at A Quilter's Table blog.

Her tutorial made this quilting fun, easy and so modern!

I used 6 different thread colors to create interest in this wavy technique. 

I will definitely use it again!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with:

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Red White & Blue: Project Quilting Challenge 10.2

Red, white and blue....in January? 

Well, that's the theme for this week's Project Quilting.

It's been so cold here in Iowa this past week that school was held only 1/2 of ONE day! 

Early dismissals and late arrivals, plus 2 cancellations due to snow and wind chills. 

Now more snow is on the way.

Sigh. 

With no school, I had time to play with my red, white and blue scraps!

Surely, I could come up with some idea to put these to use!

I started with creating a feather.

But I didn't like it.

 

I played with some scrappy triangles.

Meh.

But once I started just sewing strips around a hexagon, I was a happy girl!

I went on to make 2 more square blocks.

I added Insulbrite as the middle layer so I could use them as pot holders.

Even if it is -5 degrees outside as I write this, 

I'm already looking forward to July when I can put these to good use! 

Such scrappy, patriotic fun.

Made in my home in Dubuque, Iowa.

Linking up to Persimon Dreams Project Quilting 10.2