My family has a fun tradition they share with many of you. They have a gift exchange every year for Christmas. I have nine (yes, you heard that right) siblings.
This last Christmas I had one of my sisters who happens to live in a very small space. When asked what she wanted she said 'table runners' so I made four of them that were double sided. Twice the amount for half the storage space. It made sense to me anyway. One of these I gave to her for her birthday, the other three were for Christmas.
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This first one is very plain and neutral on one side. The bird pattern on the other side was modified only a little from a pattern by All Through the Night. The front and back are made from felted wool.
A lot of this wool I felted myself. After seeing the prices for ready made felted wool I decided it was a skill I needed to learn to do myself! I adore doing wool applique and have built up a nice supply of fabric for it that I have purchased and felted myself.
This second one was made very simply from some good cotton quilting fabric with cotton batting inside to give it some heft.
This third runner was made with cotton gingham and quilting fabric on one side and on the other, gingham and Aida cloth cross stitched with a pattern from a pattern booklet I have by Jane Chandler. It was meant for a finger tip towel, but I think it looks nice here.
The rick rack is beautiful vintage cotton. My mom had a huge stash of rick rack she got as part of a job lot at an auction an I've been using them for many things. Modern rick rack is just not the same.
This is the fourth runner. Quilting fabrics on both sides and a cotton batting to give it a nice weight make it fun to touch. The pattern is by Kim Hannay. I changed all the colors from the original but I still like the way it turned out.
If you look very carefully at the pictures you will find a rather obvious quilting mistake. I am not good at quilting, as a matter of a fact, I stink at it, which is why I was rather proud that the quilted items did not turn out to be a total mess, and my sister forgave me for not making everything perfect.
That's the beauty of hand made items right? They're not perfect. It gives them character.
