Today is the launch of the Cool to be Square Blog Hop sponsored by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. There are so many fun participants, I am sure there will be quite a few projects that will catch your eye. Some, I bet, will catch your imagination and inspire a new project. Let the “Cool to Be Square” Games commence.
My inspiration for this project started with a group of charm squares….Beach House by Moda. This fabric was probably purchased in 2015 or 2016, so sadly it is no longer available. However, I have seen some fun summer fabrics showing up in my feed so I am sure there is something comparable if you want to mimic this design.
I knew I needed something to go with it. I looked at a local and online fabric store, Z Fabrics, andI found this perfect fabric, called Swirling Seas designed by Katy Tanis (Blend Fabrics – Northern Seas Collection). It is magical with narwhals swimming among waves, colorful fish in teals and blues and wild red squid. It was a match made in heaven, or in the sea really. My original thought was white lattice, but the teal was perfect and so I went with that. Teal and red seem to be appearing a lot in my quilting, as the red was leftover from by Barn quilt. I added a border of the Swirling Seas fabric, 2 1/2″ on top and 3 1/2″ on the the side because I wanted the piece a little longer.
My gift to you is a mini pattern that most quilters with some experience should be able to use and make a similar runner.
The initial work goes quickly but the assembly of the rows is a little more tedious – almost every row is different. The good thing is row by row your table runner grows and before you know it, it is done!
I quilted it with an all over pantograph called “Water Meander” found on the ProStitcher software on Tabitha, my HandiQuilter Simply 16. I have to say, it was a fun and fast design to quilt.
The quilting is much easer to see on the back. Speaking of the back, I love the print I chose for the back, too. It is a Dear Stella print from the Sink or Swim line called Anchors.
This was a UFO or project in waiting and it is done. So, this counts for one of my projects for my PhD in 2020. I believe I have caught up and now have 5 done – hooray! Of course, I still have 7 more to do and a few that have crept in.
Let’s remember to visit the others in the hop….here is the list for the week. The 22nd opens my linky party for tips and tutorials so come back and see who is linking up. As always, there is a summary of the prior month’s links so you don’t miss anything.
Have a great week of sewing, hopping and linking up!
May 18
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Life in the Scratch
Day Brook Designs
Songbird Designs
The Darling Dogwood
Kathleen McMusing
Quilting Gail
May 19
MooseStashQuilting
Beaquilter
Quilt In A Not-Shell
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Seams To Be Sew
Daughters of Dorinda
Kathy’s Kwilts and More
May 20
Ms P Designs USA
Selina Quilts
Karen’s Korner
Just Because Quilts
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Sew Many Yarns
May 21
Scrapdash
Websterquilt
Quilt Schmilt
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
May 22
Just Let Me Quilt
Vroomans Quilts
Patchouli Moon Studio
Den syende himmel
Quilt Fabrication
Samelia’s Mum
Coming Up on the Blog:
Tips & Tutorials (5/22)
ProStitcher Retreat
2020 Monthly Color Block (MCB) for May
Hosting TGIFF (5/28-30)
Hosting 2020 MCB for June (6/1)
Stitching Sunshine Hop (6/25)
Tips and Tutorial (6/22)
Linking Up:
PhD in May
What I Made Monday
Main Crush Monday
Show Me Something Blue
UFO Busting
MidWeek Makers
Put Your Foot Down
Lovely runner! All of your fabrics work so well together.
It really was fun to see it come together in a way that I didn’t expect when I started it!
A beautiful, little runner in great colors!
Thanks so much, Anita.
On point squares take a simple pattern to stunning. Love your runner and I do love the Dear Stella fabric too.
It is true how awesome that one point trick is and how it extends what is a really small amount of fabric!
Another UFO bits the dust, congrats on the finish. Seems like a most appropriate runner for you!
I do love everything about this runner and it is perfect. I think it will reside in the guest room, but it may come to live in the dining room once in awhile, too!
this is a lovely runner. i love all the motion. thank you for sharing and inspiring
I am glad you enjoyed it and hope you use the pattern someday.
Love the runner and the squares of fabric in the four-patches. Great use of those squares, you cool cat, you. Thanks for the pattern.
So sweet! I hope you put the pattern to use someday.
Nice little runner Kathleen, the fabrics work nicely together and the pattern is awesome.
Thank you – I really love the way it turned out!
How nice to give us the pattern to make the runner. Love the colors in yours as I love royal blue. Runner are fun to make as they do go quicker than a quilt.
I am so glad you like it. Royal blue is a favorite of mine but with the teal I was so happy that it worked so well. Oddly, it wasn’t my first choice. Hope you try the pattern sometime.
Such a cheerful little quilt!
Thank you!
Ohhhhh…lets hear it for the Narwhals. This table topper is just too cute, and I love that old fabric we can no longer find. With all this quarantine stuff, we are finishing our UFO’s and shopping our stash finally. I guess life isn’t all that bad! LOL!!!
Narwhals are the new unicorn. I don’t know that the existed years ago, I swear I just found out about them in the past few years. Quarantine means its all about me and my projects. I am enjoying seeing them melt away.
A truly inspiring, bright, happy runner. Thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome!
This is sew sweet and summery! I have a charm pack of that fabric line somewhere in my stash. Your project is sew inspiring, I may just have to find it and make one for myself … 🙂 Pat
I knew there was at least one person who had that fabric lying around waiting for something to do with it!
That is cute as can be, and of course, I have a charm pack just waiting for a project! Thanks for sharing the pattern!
I hope you try it! Let me know if you have any questions, always happy to help.
Such a cute table runner. Gotta love that narwhal fabric!! Thanks for the pattern as well!
Thanks, Brenda! I was unaware of narwhals until recently. I am not sure if I just missed references to them or they just became more popular.
Hi Kathleen! What a fun project for the hop. All of your fabrics choices are so fun and perfect to go with those charm squares. It is a nice addition to your sidebar. ~smile~ Roseanne
The fabric worked out to be much more fun than originally planned. It has a few spots it may live, so I am sure it will do a bit of traveling this summer, unlike the rest of us.
Beautiful and perfect for a Maine summer!
Thank you; I think it is perfect too for Maine and the summer.
A lovely and bright runner. I sometime buy charm packs, but I never find a use for them, unless to cut hexagons. Maybe I should try something else some time? Thanks for the inspiration.
It is fun to use them in projects, although I think 2 should be the minimum for a mini charm pack; it is not really a lot of fabric.
Kathleen I love the background fabric. It reminds me of the ocean. Love how bright the runners is it definitely cheers things ups. Thanks for the pattern.
You are welcome! It really is a very “oceany” piece.
Hi Kathleen!
You have a very cute table runner! And, it’s perfect for this blog hop! And, with offering the pattern, it’ll help someone use up their mini-charm pack that they fell in love with!
Happy Quilting! 🙂
Thanks, Gail. I think it is really pretty sweet and a great way to use those mini charms!
What a fun quilt. Love the narwhals, and the colors are so bright and cheery.
The colors were more fun than I thought they would be…hooray for brights.
Thank you for the free tutorial and pattern! I have several charm packs that can be put to good use! I especially love when squares are on point.
I hope you get to use it! It is nice because it made those tiny squares go a little further!
A great choice of background fabric and quilting. Well done.
Thank you!
This runner just makes me smile – it is so fun! Love the fabric, the finish – everything! That background fabric is perfect!
I am so glad you love it. The background was more perfect than I imagined – and it was not my first choice but it was fate!
This is seriously such a beautiful runner and full of happiness…love it! Thanks for sharing and being the coolest blog hopper!
You are tooo funny….but ocean breezes do cool one down, not to mention ocean water!
Love those narwhals, Kathleen!!! The anchors and quilting design are tops, too!
Thanks, Nancy! I thought the anchors might be binding, but I really didn’t like it on the front.
very cute! nice panto too
I am so glad you enjoyed it.
Hello Kathleen. Thanks for joining the blog hop so I could discover you! Thank you as well for your free pattern. I should have thought of that. I guess I was just lucky to get my post done.
Aw, such a sweet pattern Kathleen! As soon as I publish my comment I’m downloading it! I love the fabric you found for the front, and the backing is just perfect. I bet you can’t wait to get the ocean breeze on it, or maybe you already have! I love quilting water lines.
It is pretty fun to make, just a little time consuming on the putting together (which generally seems to be one of the faster steps in most quilts). There are always ocean breezes on the island!
Great table runner! Love your fabric choices. Thank you for the pattern download.
Hope you get to make something like it one day!
That certainly brings a breath of freshness into the room!
A new runner always is fun in any room. Thanks for stopping by!
Love your square and the table runner it inspired.
I am so glad you enjoyed it!
Love this! And of course the nautical theme is perfect for you! The backing print goes so well, but my favorite is that narwhal fabric! Fun colors, lovely all around!
The sea has always been a favorite place for me. I really really fell in love with that narwhal fabric.
Great finish! Love the sea-themed fabrics, and how well they all work together even though they’re from different lines. Thanks for sharing!
It is fun when it all works out. I was watching Godrun last night and she had some of the Moda line in the quilt in the background. I did love that line.
Cute table runner. Narwhals are amazing and fascinating. Hopefully your table runner will be as good a conversation starter in real life as here 🙂 Thanks for sharing at the Chameleon’s Colour & Inspiration Party.
I think the narwhal runner will definitely cause some fun conversations.
Such a fun finished table runner! I love your narwhal fabric. It must be nice to be a little narwhal right now, frolicking away in the ocean, oblivious to Social Distancing and face masks and Zoom meetings!
Hadn’t thought about being a narwhal and I think that would be a good place to be now. Of course, I think that needle nose probably does cause some social distancing all on its own!
Lovely runner, bright and cheerful! Cute anchor backing too.
Thanks so much, Frédérique!
That’s a wonderful runner. Thank you for the pattern. I will look for that swirly sea fabric. That’s perfect for so many things!
I am so glad you enjoyed the runner and hope you try the pattern. Let me know if you need more information on that fabric.
A lovely finish. At first sight I thought of a space cartoon with its bright colors and the splash in the border. It would be a perfect addition to a 4th of July party. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.
I love linking up and it is so perfect for the 4th!
Greta runner, I really like the blocks set on point with those cornerstones.
I do love blocks set on point and this was particularly fun!