Floral runner and napkins

Here I go again with another table runner.  I know.  What's with all these pot holders and table runners?  I seem to be stuck in the kitchen.  I guess these kinds of projects are fast and fun, so they appeal to me after finishing a quilt.  Especially since I also started a lace weight scarf with an  F hook, and I need to take a break from it every once in a while so my eyes can uncross.  But that's another post.

 I wanted to practice some free motion quilting on something small, before tackling the three big unfinished quilts hanging in the closet.

After struggling with my sewing machine, ( I'm talking the last 3 years people!) I finally was able to produce decent free motion quilting without thread tension problems.  The ladies at my local quilt shop were very helpful, and it appears there was a tiny little secret about the way my machine is threaded, which makes all the difference.  Of course the secret is not included in the owners manual.  Who knew?
Anyway, now I can try something besides straight lines with my walking foot and have a little more fun!

I didn't use a pattern for the table runner, just added strips at each end of the floral piece.  I love the animal print used for the binding and the ties on the napkins.  I'm not a big fan of animal prints, but I think a little touch of it can be interesting.  The napkins were made with buffet style eating, or picnics in mind.  It's basically a napkin with a pocket and ties. I just started with an 11 inch square of material and went from there.  I'd like to have more of these for Thanksgiving, but I would need to make like 20 of them.  Not sure if I want to go there.

The utensils are placed in the pocket and wrapped up like a burrito, and makes it easy to carry or pack up in a picnic basket.

And that's it.  I'm tired.  I just got home from a concert with my mom.   We went to see a one man performance of Franc D'Ambrosio.  I saw him play the Phantom years ago when Phantom of the Opera came to San Francisco.  He also played in the movie Godfather III as Al Pacino's opera singing son, and sang the title song for the movie.  It was a great show, and he sang a lot of Broadway favorites from shows like "Chicago, Brigadoon, and "Les Miserables", and of course Phantom of the Opera.  I'm going to bed tonight with some great music in my head, and a smile on my face.

I'm also linking up to Tuesday at the Table!