Let me introduce to you my latest, creative invention, a placerunnner. You saw it, in progress, earlier this week. I am struggling with the variety of colors showing up. It really absorbs the light. There are about 6 different shades of neutral that show up great, in person not so much in a photograph.

A table runner, when turned the other direction, that is actually the width of placemats, solves the problem of needing a table runner and place mats, especially when outfitting a smaller dining table.

This is the cherry table and chairs that my husband, Peter, recently made for our youngest daughter when she moved out. Isn’t it just gorgeous? He designed and created it all himself. He is so talented.

Daughter was paranoid about scratching it up, right off the bat. She had placemats but when using two, of them, the center of the table is left open to scuffs when dining, and because it is only 32″ wide, it’s not wide enough to toss down a third placemat to hold dinner/condiments…. So this is what we came up with!

Basically I took an 8″ x 50″ strip of linen, for the center, then started whacking it. I then stitched in 1″ pieces of various colored linens. With 1/4 inch seam allowances a 1″ piece of fabric “cut in” will not change the over all length. I layered it with Quilter’s Dream batting and another piece of linen for the backing and quilted it 1/4″ outside all the seams. I then trimmed it straight and added the side borders, batting and backing and extended the previous quilting lines out into the border. If I had had a complete plan in mind from the beginning I may have made it like a traditional quilt, completing the top before I started the quilting. I just wasn’t sure if quilting the larger piece would allow more warping. I wasn’t real comfortable with how linen would react or even if the colors I was considering would be what I wanted. That is why I did it like I did. No other reason.

Things I learned:

Shrinking was more than I would have guessed. It finished out after quilting and shrinking to about 18″ x 48″. Perfect for placemat width. About 2″ lost in both length and width, maybe a bit more.

One whack at a time is plenty, no need to get carried away and play jigsaw puzzle, here.

If I had used a tool to cut with, such as a 10° ruler, keeping track of the next piece wouldn’t have been an ordeal. Thank goodness there is no real difference between the front and back of this linen.

Cut in all your colors in all layers. Don’t cut in all your lights then decide you want to add some darks that end up only being in the top most layer of cuts.

The first time you cut across one of the strips pieced in and then get them to line back up, you lose width. I probably lost over an inch in width, because of this. Oversize, oversize, oversize!

Since, on this one, I quilted the side panels separately than the center, had I had a caramel colored thread, I might have used it instead of the natural. But I’m good with it. It is a prototype. It is a placemat. Nothing permanent here!

The finished product is one I loved so much I was tempted to keep it for myself.

But it is a placerunner.

Not a table runner!

Linking up with: Crazymomquilts