purple maple

Hi friends.  I needed a gift for my niece's wedding on January 30th, so I decided to make a quilted table runner.  One of my favorite quilt patterns is the maple leaf, so I knew that would be an easy one to use. 

I dug into my fabric stash and chose some purple and turquoise fabrics. 

Then I went hunting for my Easy Angle tool for ease in cutting the triangles.  Nowhere to be found.  I actually have two of them - the original one that is about 4" long and a second one that is about 6" long.  But I couldn't find either one.  So I made a quick trip to the closest JoAnn's to buy another, and used a 50% off coupon, so I didn't feel too guilty.  Unless I'm making an appliqued quilt, I use a rotary cutter to do all my cutting, so it was absolutely necessary to have the triangle ruler.  I need to figure out a better storage system, so this doesn't happen again.  I still don't know where they are hiding, but I'm sure they'll turn up eventually. 

I cut, pressed, and sewed, and before long I had three blocks made, each using different fabrics.  I put them all together with borders.  Then I layered backing fabric, batting, and the top together with pins, and then hand basted it.  I sewed the binding on the front and trimmed off the excess batting and backing.  Then I quilted.  I just quilted it in my lap without a hoop, since it was small enough to handle that way.  When I was finished quilting, I blind stitched the binding to the back. 

Then the only thing left to do was make a label.  My usual method of making a label is to print the label on paper and then tape it to my light table with fabric taped over the paper and trace it.  I actually made one that way. 

But I'd been reading about printing on fabric using an inkjet printer.  I really wanted to try that, so I printed a test label on paper to make sure I liked the size.  Then I ironed my fabric to the shiny side of freezer paper, cut it to 8-1/2"x11" and put in the printer and sent the page to the printer, nervously hoping I wasn't messing up the printer.  It printed!  Perfect!  I peeled the fabric off the freezer paper, and pressed it to heat set the ink.  Then I let it set in some vinegar for awhile, rinsed it well, and pressed it again to remove all the wrinkles.  Then I stitched it to the back of the table runner.  I'm really pleased that it worked so well.  The print is so much cleaner and neat.  That was sure a much easier method of making a label. 

And the quilt was finished  It only took about a week to complete.  I have no idea if my niece reads my blog, so I'm scheduling this post for after the wedding, just in case. 

Thanks so much for taking time to visit today.