Short On Time?

It's that time of year that we are busy running around getting ready for the holidays. If you are like me, time is short and you are trying to cram as much as possible into your days. Well I've got a quick gift for you to make and I bet you already have what you need to make it in your fabric stash! Plus, spending some quiet time in your sewing room stitching will help you destress. So grab a cup of coffee and lets go do some sewing.

After you set your coffee down, go dig thru your fabric for a Charm Pack. Don't have a Charm Pack but lots of cute fabric, cut out a bunch of 5" squares. What? you say... no pattern. No not really, this is what I call mindless sewing. For my table runner I used a cute Christmas Charm pack that I've been hoarding for a few years. I used 30 squares from the package. I separated them out between light and dark so my table runner would be scrappy. I decided I would make my runner 3 x 10 squares. You can make yours longer or shorter, it's up to you!

I did not preplan how to sew my squares together, I just started sewing. I like to listen to audiobooks while I sew. I'm currently listening to a Stephen King book. Take this time to relax and stitch. Put on some Christmas music if you'd like. 

I like to chain sew... here I have my squares stitched together going 'one direction'.  I will then sew the 'rows' together, nesting my seams.

All ready to give my table runner a good press.

Now go back to your stash and dig around for something that can be used for the binding. I found this adorable fabric that worked well with the Charm Pack I used it even though they were from different designers. I then cut 2 1/2" strips for the border of my runner.

I sew the borders onto the long sides, then trim and iron. Then sew the border onto the two short ends, trim and press. Then layer your table runner top with the batting and backing and quilt. Scrap batting works well for this! I bet you have some left over from another project! I used my embroidery machine and quilted a cute holiday quilt design to the center. While that quilted I worked on binding another Christmas gift. 

After you are done quilting it's time to rummage thru your fabric stash again and find some fabric for the binding. I found a fat quarter that would work well with mine. I cut  2 1/2" strips for the binding, sewed them end to end then irons in in half lenthwise for the binding.

Sew the binding on using a 1/4" seam, remember to miter your corners.

Since I'm short on time, I just flipped the binding to the back and stitched in the ditch making sure to 'catch' the binding on the back side. In this picture you can also see the free motion quilting I did on the border, a holly leaf garland.

~ Charm Pack Table Runner ~

I hope that you find some time to make this fun table runner. Take some time for yourself and stitch! I'm really pleased with how mine turned out. I'm thinking I will be keeping this for myself. It looks so cute on my kitchen table with my snowflake lantern and gnome!

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere