Freshly Picked Table Runner

During my Wednesday morning run I decided I needed a quick and easy project.  I had plenty of time to think about it while I was running (let's be honest: most of my run time is spent thinking about quilting!) and decided to make the Freshly Picked table runner that came in my September Sew Sampler box.

I chose this because I liked the look of the finished table runner but also because it was a little bit of a stretch for me - I rarely work with florals.  I started by separating out the charm pack of The Good Life that was included and "harvesting" the charms that looked like something I would use in other projects.  The white hearts on navy went to my box of I-Spy fabrics and the stripes got thrown in with my Varsity charm packs.  After taking the duplicates out, I was a few charms short, but luckily I had a few floral prints laying around that fit right in.  The whole thing went together easily in a couple of hours.

I pieced the back using my green fabric that's never going to run out and some floral jelly roll strips left over from other Sew Sampler boxes, then quilted it with an all-over daisy pattern.

The biggest roadblock was the binding - I didn't have anything in my stash that matched the quilt in big enough quantities.  So I turned to my "second stash" - my mother-in-law's sewing room!  She gave me this reddish floral fabric that was leftover from the back of a quilt she made and it's a perfect match!

I really need to start reading measurements before I start - this ended up about an inch longer than my coffee table. My boys are messy little monsters so I'm not sure it'll work on my kitchen table - I'm sure I'll find a place to put it soon!