Into the Stash

     The stacks of dyed fabric are piling up so now that dyeing season is over I'm working on using some of it. More like  trying to "use up" lightweight muslin pieces as I transition to a better weight of fabric. So what to do with all these random experiments? Cut them up and make table runners! This from the person who said she would never do anything with square edges again...

     The first is a long runner for our dining room table with multiple pieces in blue stitched together then sliced up (my new favorite tool is my Olfa rotary cutter) and put back together again. I chose osnaburg fabric for the edging because the natural wheat color was the sand to my watery blues in the center. However, osnaburg is a slippery devil and the piece went all doggy-wompus (we aren't cat people so catty-wompus is a no-no in our house). I'm too embarrassed to have anyone see the edges so you'll have to take my word for it. Quilting is not in "my wheelhouse" as they say, so obviously a sewing skill I  need to work on. The overstitching in the center is my signature wave pattern.

     The second piece is for another table. The center is a sunprint of lovage (a celery-like tasting herb) with the vein pattern stitched in lime green. I tried some different green fabrics of my own design for the edging, but they just weren't the right shade. The lime green you see is a commercial fabric which matches the stitching in the leaves. The very nice ladies at Sarah's Thimble (sarahsthimble.com), a quilt shop in Virginia Beach, gave me a quick lesson on how to bind the edges so they look much better than I could have done. It is all a learning process which gives me lots to work on over the winter. Even if they are square edges.