Hello Sunshine Table Runner

For the quilting novices, there is a vocabulary that might make you chuckle regarding "precuts" or pre-cut pieces of fabric that come in little packages like...jelly rolls (2.5" strips of fabric), charm squares (5" blocks), and layer cakes (10" blocks).  I've also heard of bally pops, which seem to be 5" strips or so, but I'm not sure.

Below, you will see my very first jelly roll purchase.  It was on clearance at Joann's.  I usually stay away from precuts because they're so much more expensive than just buying fabric you cut yourself.  But it's a trade-off between someone else doing most of your work for you, or you spending time coordinating 10+ fabrics to get that "jelly roll" look, and then annoying the cutting counter personnel by asking for 1/4 yard cuts of each fabric.

At any rate, I was looking for a project to do for my mother for Mother's Day this year, and didn't see anything that screamed "pick me!" until seeing this.  I loved the spring/summer feel to the fabrics, and finding an orange to coordinate was super easy.

After playing with the order to sew the fabrics in, I originally decided to do two sets of 5 rows each. I was using a pattern in which the rows are sewn together, then cut into lengths, then sewn off-set by one row each length. Unpick a few on each end to create points, and add a border, batting, and backing for a quick table runner.

The original first set of 5 strips sewn together.

The original second set of 5 strips together.

I ended up sewing both of the chunks together to have all 10 rows, because the 5 rows was going to end up making for a very skinny table runner.  I cut this into 2.5" strips, and then aligned them so that the finished piece would be 7 blocks wide (I picked 3 blocks from each row).  This was pretty time-consuming, as I was trying to get a randomized look, and had to keep adjusting everything to avoid having the same squares right next to each other.  But the end result was worth it.

I decided to use fusible interfacing for this project, something I haven't done before, to give the center some weight and stability. It made sewing the borders a DREAM. No fussing with every stitch line or having the edges stretch or warp in any way! LOVED it. I will be using this trick again!

The interfacing on the back of the center portion of the runner.  This was so great to work with!

Main portion of the finished top of the table runner.

One end of the runner - I really like the pattern for this.

Once I get a photo of the finished product, I'll add it to this post.  I used a yellow fabric for the backing and binding, which just completed the sunshine feel to this table runner.