What Shade are You?

I’m back! I stumbled off of the blogging track, but I am back today with a fun post to get me back into the swing of things. Next week I’ll catch you up on the highlights since well….April.

I am thrilled to be a part of the #whatshaderu blog hop with RJR Fabrics celebrating their Cotton Supreme Solids today. I was floored when RJR approached me to participate (the day after my birthday!), but I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Fast forward seven months and here I am with my Wonky Runner!

I chose a palette of grays, white, and mustard for our bedroom and set out to make a runner to pull the the mustard to the foot of our bed. I was inspired by the gorgeous illustration by Cara @Print Stitch & Paste and after getting her blessing, I set out to reproduce it in fabric! The cards are available in her Etsy shop if you love them as much as I do.

I had a great time playing with the Cotton Supreme solids and working in a slightly less accurate style then I’m used to. It was a great way to stretch my comfort limits and work through some creative fears. I was aiming for a slightly off kilter and wonky look, which I think I accomplished.

I struggled a bit on how to quilt it. Originally, I was going to and matchstick it evenly (top of above photo) with gray and a pop of mustard thread here and there. I paused halfway through to look at my progress (to make sure the lines were not leaning sideways) and fell in love with the texture that the uneven spacing added to the quilt (bottom of above photo). My seam ripper and I had a date one evening!

I have yet to settle on a binding color, but here are the options I am considering.

Want to make a runner of your own? With a yard of white, a half-yard each of five colors, and some careful cutting you can make enough blocks to create four full diamonds. My runner is two diamonds in the center, a half diamond on each end, with a diamond on the back.

Initial cutting (for 16 striped blocks):

• 64 – 3/4 x 13″ from white white
• 16 – 2  3/4 x 13″ each from color a, b, c, d, and e (a combined total of 80)

Assembly (additional cutting is included in the instructions):

• Make 16 stacks that contain one a, b, c, d, and e piece. Randomize the stacks so no two are alike (or few are).
• Piece together along the 13″ length your colors with a white strip alternating in between. Your start and end piece will be a color. Press seams to colors. Repeat until you have 16 blocks.

I keep telling myself that wonky is what I'm aiming for with this project. Brain isn't getting the memo.

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Jul 5, 2015 at 2:24pm PDT

• Roughly square up your blocks to be 13 x 13″.
• Divide blocks into two stacks of 8. Cut half of them diagonally top left to bottom right and the other half bottom top right to bottom left. You want to make opposite cuts.
• Layout your (now) triangle blocks on your design wall, bed, table, or floor and move the blocks around until you find the arrangement that you like.
• Measure the length of your diagonal line and cut sixteen 3/4″ strips of white a 1/2″ longer than your measurement. This will be the piece that makes the triangles block again.
• Sew 3/4″ strip along the diagonal of the first triangle, press to the colors. Offset the second triangle 1/4″ from the top edge of the first triangle, lining the diagonal cut against the white edge and sew. Press to the colors and you have a squarish block again. Repeat until you have 16 blocks.
• Measure the width of your new blocks and cut eight 3/4″ strips of white a 1/2″ longer than your measurement.
• Sew your white strip in between two vertical blocks to make eight individual two block units. Press to the colors.

I think I'm going to like this!

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Jul 17, 2015 at 7:34am PDT

• Measure the length of your vertical blocks and cut seven 3/4″ strips of white a 1/2″ longer than your measurement. Sew white strips in between each vertical block to finish the runner. Press to the colors.
• Quilt and bind to your liking!

RJR Fabrics is generously giving one lucky reader a fat quarter bundle of my color set which includes Golden Topaz, Pewter, Argento, On The Rocks, Silver, and Goldilocks. Goldilocks is another mustard option, my quilt uses Golden Topaz. To win, leave me a comment telling me what color combination you are loving today. Mr. Random will pick a winner next Wednesday evening, August 12th (8pm EST) and I’ll announce it here. I’ll be sending the winner a note card in the mail, the one that inspired the project.

Congratulations to Marti T!

To keep things real, this is what happens when I photograph quilts in my house! I think they approve.

 

Quilt Details

Title: Wonky Runner
Pattern: my own, inspired by an illustration by Print Stitch & Paste
Front: Cotton Supreme Solids by RJR Fabrics in Golden Topaz, Pewter, Argento, On The Rocks, & Silver
Back: Black Widescreen and more Cotton Supreme Solids from the front
Binding: undecided
Quilting: Aurifil 40wt 2600, a light gray, and pops of Auriful 50wt 5022, a beautiful mustard
Finished Size: 23.5 x 74″

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Tagged: 2015 finish, aurifil, fabric, giveaway, handmade, quilt, quilting, RJR Fabrics, runner, solids, triangles, tutorial