Pure Color Table Runner

Late last night I finished my Pure Color project using the bundle of fabrics I chose for the January Curated Collections Series at Sew Lux. I had some quality time sewing on the binding in the wee hours while simultaneously getting caught up on my Netflix queue. Multi-tasking for the win! ; ) I decided to turn this colorful selection of solids into a table runner for my bedroom nightstand, partly as a way to test out some piecing and quilting ideas that I have for a larger bed-sized quilt. 

Along with the Bella Solids, I also mixed in a little Moda Crossweave in Natural for a neutral background. I just love this particular fabric so much and see myself using it in lots of other projects as an upgrade to the average basic. It's woven with darker taupe and lighter sand colored threads to give it lots of depth and texture, which adds a little more interest to the quilt design, especially when working sans-prints. 

One thing about working with Crossweaves that was good for me to practice in this smaller project was being careful not to warp the fabric while piecing and quilting. Crossweaves have a softer hand and are more loosely woven than regular quilting cottons, so a slightly more delicate touch with the iron and a touch slower machine sewing speed were useful for keeping my blocks straighter. There were still some areas where the piecing wasn't as crisp as I would like and where a little pulling occurred during quilting, but I'm confident that after practicing on this project I would be able to have less of that happen the second time around.

For the backing, I dove into my vintage sheet stash and found this cheerful print. I like the combination of the geometric piecing on the top with the looser floral on the back. The sheet fabric also really lets the quilting pop, since the weave of the fabric is so dense that the stitches sit more on the surface of the fabric rather than sinking in. I used one of my all-time favorite quilting threads to quilt this, a variegated yellow cotton thread made by Gutterman. 

I plan to finish up some other WIPs that I have going before jumping into any new larger quilt projects, but I am pretty confident now that I would want to take a variation on this design and make a bed-sized quilt at some point in the future. I loved working with the Bella solids on this project (they tie with Kona as my favorite quilting solids) and think that use of flat color really helps to emphasis the piecing.

If you are also thinking about adding some more colorful solids into your quilting projects, this bundle is available at Sew Lux Fabrics while supplies last. In fact it's still on sale for 10% off for a few more hours (until midnight EST) along with the other January Curated Collections bundles.

*Just a quick disclosure note: affiliate links were used in this post*