3 fat quarter table runner pattern

Free Fat Quarter Table Runner Pattern

Fat Quarter Table Runner

12" x 38"

All you need to make this quick and easy table runner are 3 fat quarters and then batting and backing measuring 16" x 43"

(for the backing buy a yard and you will have enough for 2)

These are really fun once you get going so I'll bet you will want to make more than one :-) The binding can be made with leftover strips from the fat quarters.

Start by cutting a 9.5 x 21" strip from each of the three fat quarters. I will be calling the snowmen blue fabric in my case the focus fabric and the other two fabrics blue and white

Cut the remainder of the fat quarters into four 2" strips.

Using the 9 1/2" strips -

from the focus fabric strip cut one 9-1/2" square 
 from the white and blue cut a 9.5 x 12" strip from each

 set  the rest aside for another project / binding

Take two of the 12 inch focus fabric 2 inch strips and sew to each of the white and blue 9-1/2" x 12" strips making a block 11" x 12". 







Cut those blocks into 2 inch strips as shown on the photo left.

  Your inventory -

you should have cut 

*six 9-1/2" x 2" strips of blue

*six 9-1/2" x 2" strips ofwhite

*two 12" x 2" strips of focus fabric

*six 11" x 2" two part strips of focus and white

* six 11" x 2" two part strips of focus and blue

Now start assembling the braid by taking the 9 1/2 inch focus square and sewing a white 9 1/2 inch strip to opposite sides of the focus fabric square.

Sew a two part focus and white strip to the other two sides, placing the small square at opposite corners as shown on the left. Note that the strip will not go all the way to the end of the block. It feels really odd, but don't worry about it, you are doing okay.

Sew a blue 9-1/2" strip to the two part white strips on both sides of the table runner, starting with the end of the previous strip.







Now add a two part blue strip, again starting at the end that has the little square.

Keep adding strips, alternating colors and making sure to place the square on the correct corner. Do you see how it is going together almost like a log cabin?

After you have sewn all your strips, press carefully. Get all those seams going in one direction on the back so it lays flat. Now place your ruler on the top a quarter of an inch from the corners on the big middle square so that when you trim you don't cut off your points. Line it up and trim off the edges straight.

Now quilt :-) Get as fancy or be as simple as you want. You could just stitch in the ditch or practice some fancy feathers or swirls as I have done on the left. All over meandering would also work. This is a great way to practice your free motion quilting skills.

Trim off the excess batting and backing and bind using your favorite method. I used the leftover fabric from the focus and blue fat quarters to make my binding. It adds to the scrappy feel.


This pattern was originally posted on the quilt bug website as a free to share pattern. It was for a fund raiser for cystic fybrosis. If you would like to donate to the cause, the original post is here.

tutorial on how to mount an art quilt on canvas

I wrote this tutorial and have it posted on a page on my blog at www.quiltedfabricart.com but thought I would share it here in case any 52 quilters blog followers might like to try this. This method will enhance any type of small or minature wall hanging  - enjoy!

How to Mount an Art Quilt on Stretched Canvas

Mounting your art quilt on stretched canvas can take your work from a potholder hanging on the wall to a cool piece of artwork.

You can purchase stretched canvas very inexpensively. Look at places like Micheal’s or Hobby Lobby. They come in various sizes and that will depend on the size of your quilt and how much of the canvas you want to show.

 As you can see in these examples below – I like to leave some room for embellishments and words of wisdom but some people like to have just a tiny bit showing to give just a little bit of a frame. 

Basically you want to cover your canvas with anything that you feel will enhance the beauty of your art quilt. The simplest way is to paint with plain old acrylic paints any way you like – brush, sponge, rag – any method that works for you. Once the front is dry, turn it over and paint the sides and the canvas on the back. If you don’t want to paint, you could cover with fabric and staple it to the back. Or you could decoupage with paper and white glue using your favorite method.

If you will be adding words or embellishments that need to be glued do it now before you glue down your quilt. Place your art quilt down first to decide where you want the embellishments. You could mark with a pencil dot to remember.

I like to print out my words and then decopage them down using a matte white glue such as mod podge. Below I took the same paint that I used to paint the canvas, watered it down and lightly painted the quote so it would blend in.

The easiest way to attach your art quilt is to use wide heavy duty velcro – the stick on kind. You can buy it at any hardware store. It holds really well and if you want to change out your canvas all you have to do is rip it off. 

  Another method is to use good old Elmer’s Glue but make sure you use the Glue All kind that is good on fabrics and apply plenty of it. I have also used my trusty glue gun and that worked fine as well. Any strong glue that works on fabric to fabric will do.

If you do use glue it is a good idea to put felt on the back for a better stick. On the piece above I used felt for the back (the orange) but as you can see the facing is not felt. A better solution would be to hand stitch the felt to the back. That way if you wanted to remove the art quilt from the canvas you could remove the felt and leave the quilt unharmed. The felt is optional - I have done it with or without and the quilt seemed to stay just fine but I have read alot of other art quilters suggest the felt so I wanted to include the suggestion. For a larger piece (anything over 14") I would probablly take the extra step with the felt. 

No matter which method you use, after you put the quilt on the canvas with the glue – weigh it down with a heavy book or box and let it sit for at least a half hour for a good hold.

To finish it off, for a more professional look you may want to glue paper to the back to cover up the wood. Screw or staple a hanging wire to the back and your done!

On the piece below I printed out words of wisdom for the paper on the back. If you use a 9”x12” canvas a standard 8.5”x11” print paper will fit nicely on the back. Think of the possibilities!

Or you could just leave the back as is and it will easily hang on a nail or hook – no wire needed.

I hope you try this the next time you make a mini art quilt - it really does make a big difference in the presentaion of your creative self.

 My name is Carol and I am a quilter.

Sounds like part of a 12 step addiction self help program doesn’t it – well yes, I am addicted to quilting but no I don’t want help. I am perfectly happy hoarding and petting my all consuming fabric stash.  Just because I have fabric stored in every linen closet, two armoires and bins – oh the bins! You know the ones - those plastic bins that somehow multiply like rabbits. How did I ever get so many? And how did they somehow get filled with fabric? I know I have the perfect shade of yellow somewhere but I can’t seem to find it! But it was on sale! I really must get some of the piles of UFO’s I already have going berore I start this new one but ………  Does this sound familiar? Well, you are a quilter too after all.

A little more about myself – I live in Vermont (for those of you not in the US, Vermont is a small mostly rural state in the Northeast),  am 59 years young and newly and very happily single. I am very content with my two wonderful dogs as my companions. I talk to them all the time and they usually agree with whatever I say, as long as there is a treat or a walk involved.

 Our favorite thing to do is go for hikes in the woods which we do daily. I find it soothes my soul and relaxes me. I work full time but somehow manage to get in at least a little bit of quilting every day, even if it’s 10 minutes. To me creating is another form of stress release or meditation for the soul.

I’ve been quilting for 35 years, so have been around the quilting block a few times. Yes, I started back in the olden days of no templates or rotary cutters and calico fabrics – We’ve come a long way baby!

 I made traditional quilts for many years but it’s not in my nature to be precise and accurate so I never was very good at the piecing but I loved doing it and kept going. I would just do patterns that it didn’t matter all that much and didn’t lose any sleep if my points weren’t perfect. I just went the other way if I spotted the quilting perfect point police.

Then one day I saw McKenna Ryan’s designs and fell in love! The woods, the deer, the moose, the frees – all of it touched my Adirondack woods heart and once I tried one of her patterns, I was hooked!

After doing just about every pattern she put out for a number of years, I got up the courage to design my own. Started very simple and then went from there. Now 90% of my quilting is pictorial art quilts from my own design starting from a photo and then taking it into fabric.Here are a few.

I have a blog with links to my craftsy shop where I sell patterns that I have designed for download and to my etsy shop for both patterns and finished art quilts. go to www.quiltedfabricart.com and say hello! I love to talk quilting and am on Instagram as quilted fabric art - go here to follow me

and on twitter I'm quiltscapes - go here to follow me on twitter. I would love to see what you are working on.

This past week end I attended a large quilt show here in Burlington Vermont and so this week I will be sharing photos of some of my favorite quilts from the show on Instagram. 

this one is made by a fellow Vermonter - Judy Dales is quite an artist. I love the flowing lines and peaceful serene colors she uses.

thank you for stopping by!

Week 24: Maple Leaf Blooms pattern

Here's a fun and simple block that can be made into a pillow, mini or larger quilt. It's inspired by the traditional maple leaf block, with four leaves surrounding a focal fabric in the middle. I call the block #mapleleafblooms because it reminds me of flowers.

Here are the cutting directions I jotted down for myself:

The squares cut for the HST give you a little wiggle room for trimming. I know trimming HST can be a little tedious, but I find the result is more accurate than those made just to size. This pattern makes an 18.5" unfinished block. For the pillows I made, I added a 1.5" border.

Below are a few pillows I made recently with this pattern:

It's a great pattern to showcase a few favourite prints. And the middle square is large enough to show off a larger print. Or you could make the block smaller and make a pillow of four. The math is very easy. When I made HST I simply add 1" to the finished block size to figure out what size to cut to make them.

If you do make this block, I'd love it if you share the result on Instagram using the hashtag #mapleleafblooms and tag me @johannaweidner.

Week 24: Squared Summits tutorial

Today I'm sharing a tutorial for a simple, yet striking block. I called it Squared Summits because it's a square version of the traditional Delectable Mountains block.

You can find the tutorial here.

Here are a few examples that show you just how many possibilities there are with this block. Each one looks totally different depending on the size and fabric.

This uses Alison Glass fabric and off-sets the blocks with narrow sashing between.

This pillow's bold colour scheme of blue and orange, white and black really sets off the blocks.

Here's another pillow with an Anna Maria Horner floral print combined with Grunge and a border.

Below are two more matching tops that will become pillows as well.

This block is super versatile and super easy. You just need to master a half-rectangle triangle. Follow my tutorial and you'll be whipping up these blocks in no time! I also included a simple calculation to make them in any size.

I want to give a nod to Wendy on Instagram (@wens_was_here) for inspiring this tutorial. I saw a beautiful pillow she made with this block and I immediately made two! I had the math a bit wrong on that first go, and set to figuring it out. Not just for that four-block pillow, but for any size. And you can see I've kinda been hooked on making them in every size and configuration since! I hope you have fun with it too.

***If you do make these blocks, please share them on Instagram with the hashtag #squaredsummits and tag me - @johannaweidner. I'd love to see them!

Week 24: Johanna Weidner - Introduction

Hello! What an honour to be chosen as one of 2016's 52 Quilters!

A little about me: I live in Kitchener, a mid-sized city in southern Ontario, Canada. Turns out that's the perfect spot for the two great passions in my life - quilting and cycling. My region with its Mennonite background has a very long and strong quilting tradition. And its endless rolling country roads are where I like to cycle. If I'm not doing one, I'm most likely doing the other!

My background: Crafting has been a part of my life since I was a child. Back then it was mostly cross-stitch and then later beadwork. My mom is a very talented crafter, as was my grandmother, so I grew up surrounded by crafts. My mother has been quilting for as long as I remember, but it was only about five years or so ago that I decided to give it a try. But it was joining Instagram a few years ago that really kicked my quilting into high gear! Instagram is endless inspiration and the quilting community there is just so fabulous and encouraging. It really has been a blessing in my life, not just for quilting ideas but I've met so many wonderful people and friends who just happen to share my love of sewing and quilting.

My style: I guess it's best to call myself a modern quilter, but I also appreciate and often use traditional blocks. Bright, bold colours are my favourite and generally patchwork over paper piecing. When it comes to quilting, I'm straightline all the way! I am totally in awe of people who free-motion quilt and I've given it a go, but I always gravitate toward orderly patterned lines. Spending hours and hours quilting straight lines is very relaxing for me.

So far I've only made a few larger quilts, including Tula Pink's butterfly quilt. That felt like an amazing accomplishment! For now I'm happy making smaller items like minis and pillows so I can try out an idea, then move onto the next one. My most favourite part of quilting - giving what I make away!

My week: For my week on 52 Quilters, I will share on the blog a tutorial for a simple but striking quilt block. I hope people will take the idea and have fun with it! I'll also have a pattern for a block I've used to make a few pretty pillows. I also want to encourage some quilting discussion on Instagram, including sharing favourite tips. And there will be a little giveaway!

But I want to ask you ... Is there anything you'd like from my week as host?

Where you can find me:
Instagram: johannaweidner
Blog: stuffimadethisweek.blogspot.ca

Week 23: Sewing Bees and Farewell

I was excited to join up a sewing bee through Instagram this year. I thought it would be great to extend some of my existing skills and learn some new ones (hello curved piecing!)

We have done a few fairly difficult blocks so far this year… the curved piecing was surprisingly not as difficult as I thought it was going to be! But that Wanta Fanta block was just plain tough getting everything to meet. It was my first attempt at paper piecing and I obviously need to practice a great deal more.

May was my month to be queen bee of #beehiveswarmraylee . I chose the homebase block in blacks, reds and creams. It isn’t a particularly difficult block, but as with all blocks, getting everything to line up and match can be a little tricky.

I love the striking colours of it and I wanted something more masculine as I want to give this quilt to my FIL as he loves sitting up late watching football and cricket being played around the world. These are the blocks I have received so far… can’t wait to put them all together and make up the quilt! Thanks ladies for all your blocks so far! Still waiting on the last couple to come in and then I will make up a few more to round out the quilt. And I think I might make some blocks for the edges that finish off those squares.... the OCD in me is yelling that they need to be complete!

Today is my last post on 52quilters – thank you so much for your comments and interaction!

I would love you to follow me on Instagram @anneboundy or come check out my website www.saidwithlove.com.au . Have fun with your sewing adventures!