Quilted Autumnal Runner!

Yes, the word autumnal is fun to say! But really, Fall by anytother name is just as glorious. Fall is my favorite season, with the changing colors and light and thank goodness the heat is slowly leaving.

Here is my “accidental” fall runner. I was making a runner for a friend and the center square wasn’t quite right for her runner…so I thought, “Why not make an autumnal runner for yourself??” I am much better at making things for others than for myself, so I jumped in while inspiration was fresh. There is no pattern, it is simply a nine patch center and some HSTs with borders. Fast and fun!

I wanted to get it done quickly and with minmum time spent mulling it over. First, always first, I did SID with MonoPoly (invisible) thread to secure my quilt top and assure each area was well defined.

I decided on simple ruler work for my nine patch center “leaf” print squares, using my Ultimate Stencil to mark simple radiating lines. And then used the same stencil to trace curved lines on the Chickadee block. The straight lines are ruler stitched using a yellow gold Magnifico by Superior Threads. The cuved lines are stitched in an off white So Fine matte thread.

Next up were the mottled fall colored HSTs. Simple feathers were quilted using a deeper, orangey Magnifico color in each of the triangles. For the deep orange and taupe HSTs, I switched back to the soft yellow gold Magnifico,. Hmm, what to FMQ there?

I went back to my stencils for inspiration. The FMQ there needed to contrast with the feathers and stright lines elsewhere. I spotted an oval cable stencil and laid portions of it across my HSTs. Bingo! To keep the interest and texture high, I simply moved the stencil to create an interest wline design, and did not to match up the sections of cable that I traced for each triangle,

Quilting accidents and false starts can be a great beginning for something entirely different than your original intent. Here is hoping yours end as happily as this one did!

Happy sewing all!

Lennea