Fun Sewing Projects

When the weather gets cold and rainy here, it's good to have a few projects to keep me busy once in a while.

A month or so ago I went through my fabric scrap box and laid out some potential projects. I bought a few small pieces of additional yardage for two of them, and then designed some table toppers using what I had. 

This autumnal table runner has been in the dining room since I finished it a while back. 

 My design engineering was all off, and it turned out bigger than planned. It seems I forgot more about piecing than I remembered, but I learned from my mistakes. 

Then I started on a design for a Christmas table topper and two place mats. That went better now that I knew what I was doing. 

I am not a speedy seamstress, and I work on these projects a little here and a little there. That's their purpose. It was a fun project, playing with what I had.

 I actually hand stitched the binding on this table topper, like good quilters are supposed to, but my hands were hurting when I finished just this one, so on all the rest I just top stitched the bindings by machine. 

That dark green fabric prominent in both projects is a three yard piece that I found in an antique shop in Garibaldi on the Oregon Coast. It cost me $8, and it is good quality. I used it for the backing and binding of all of these pieces, and I still have a chunk left. Everything else was selected to match that. 

Now my sewing is cleaned up and put away until after Christmas. Decorating and baking will fill my time these next two weeks, and then I am hosting two events here that will need my attention. 

'Tis the season.