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Idea to Project

Last month when I got out a pack of 5" squares I promised myself I could keep if I made something out of them this summer (I like to keep promises to myself) I spread out all the squares to have a look at the colors and prints. I realized right away they weren't exactly my cup of tea anymore; I've been gravitating toward solids and hand-dyed art cloth for a long time now. I think I bought the pack at a quilt show back in 2008, and the line is probably out of print now -- all the more reason to make something out of it.

This is how an idea comes to life: I play with the fabric, look at it and rearrange it. With the recent flare-up my hands haven't been too steady, so I knew I wanted to keep the cutting to the bare minimum. I also wanted to use as many of the squares as possible in one piece. So I turned everything en pointe, fiddled with the placements and then sewed it together on the machine.

I focused on matching up and sewing the seams as perfectly as I could (and for me, this is as close to perfect as I get.) I then trimmed the sides so I could make it into a table runner.

I weanted to use up more of the store-bought binding I have on hand versus making it myself (again, the hands) so I went with a pretty woodsy green. Sewing the binding on with only the machine is still difficult for me, but I'm slowly getting better at it.

I'll use the runner on our coffee table this fall, but it's fine for year-round use, too. The end result made me happy, and that's the whole point.

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