Midnight Frost Table Runner - A Tutorial

So you might recall the row I showed on Monday for the Row along.  Well, since I didn't have time to do all the rows in the row along, I decided I best do something with this row so it didn't end up in a drawer somewhere.  So . . . I opted to turn it into a table runner.  And I even managed to finish it in the same week. Bonus!!!  I took some pictures along the way so I created a little tutorial for you all, enjoy!!

But before we get to the tutorial, let me tell you a bit about these fabrics.  These fabrics are from Modern Yardage, a fun new fabric company based out of Salt Lake.  The really neat thing about Modern Yardage is that they print their fabrics in-house when they are ordered.  Neat huh!  You can read more about the process here.  They have some amazing in-house designers and so many amazing prints to choose from.  And, you even get to pick the scale you would like your prints in, which makes for some great stash builders!!

I loved the feel of these fabrics!!!  They are slightly heavier but oh so soft. (reminds me of Art Gallery fabrics feel)  And, since they print the fabrics on a wider fabric, there is extra room for printing helpful information.  Like where you can find Modern Yardage.

And how you should care for your fabrics.  Isn't that just so fun!!  So take a minute and pop on over to check them out :)  

All right, on to the tutorial!!

**NOTE - For a simplified Printable PDF of this tutorial please follow the link where you can download it for free :)

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS
1/2 yard of Focal Fabric A
1/2 yard of Focal Fabric B
1/2 yard of Background Fabric

STEP 1 - CUTTING

From each of the 2 focal fabrics cut
     (3) 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" squares
     (18) 3" x 3" squares
     (3) 10" x 10" squares   (pieced backing)
         Note - cut your first strip at 10 1/2" then you can can cut your (3) 10" squares and (4) 5 1/4" squares from that strip.  Then cut 2 strips that are 3" wide.  That is 17" so you will have an inch for straightening up :)

From the background fabric cut
     (12) 3" x 3" squares
     (24) 2 7/8" x 2 7/8" squares
     (30 2 1/2" x WOF strips (binding)

STEP 2 - HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES

Gather all of the 3" squares.  Group them into the following pairs. 12 Focal A/Focal B pairs, 6 Focal A/Background pairs, 6 Focal B/Background pairs.   To save time be sure and repeat each of the sub-steps in an assembly line fashion.  On the wrong side of the darker fabric, using your ruler, draw a pen line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

Lay your darker square on your lighter square with rights sides together.  Pin both sides adjacent to that drawn line.  Make sure to put them out far enough that your presser foot won't hit them as you sew on by :)  Stitch a 1/4" seam along both sides of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)  You are doing these assembly line so go ahead and chain stitch all the sets on the right hand side of the line, and then go back and do all the sets on the left hand side.

Clip your threads and then align your ruler along the drawn center line.  Cut your pieces apart along that drawn line.

Now press towards your darker fabric.

And now you are ready to trim up your HST's.  You will trim them to 2 1/2" square.  Start by aligning the 45 degree line on your square ruler with the seam line on your half square triangle.  Make sure that the raw edges of the half square triangle are over the 2 1/2" line's on your ruler.  Trim the 2 sides along the edge of the ruler.

Now spin your block 180 degrees.  Once again, align the 45 degree line on your ruler with the seam line on your half square triangle.  Align the raw edges of the half square triangle under the ruler on the 2 1/2" lines on your ruler.  Trim the 2 sides along the edge of the ruler.

And now you have Perfect Half Square Triangles.  They take a bit to trim but are totally worth it for perfect points!!  You should have 48 Half Square Triangles total.

STEP 3 - FLYING GEESE

Gather all of the 5 1/4" focal fabric squares and the 2 7/8" background squares.  Group them into the piles of 1 local fabric square to 4 background squares. Once again, repeat each of the sub-steps in an assembly line fashion making an entire flock of geese rather than making 1 set of  geese at a time.

With right sides together, lay two background squares onto your focal fabric square as shown.  Using your ruler, draw a pen line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

Now pin both sides of each background square adjacent to that drawn line.  Make sure to put them out far enough that your presser foot won't hit them as you sew on by :)  Stitch a 1/4" seam along both sides of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)  Remember, you are doing these assembly line so go ahead and chain stitch all the sets on the right hand side of the line first, and then go back and do all the sets on the left hand side.

Clip your threads and then align your ruler along the drawn center line.  Cut your pieces apart along that drawn line.

Press your seam up towards your 2 little background triangles.

Now, take 2 more background squares and align them on your two stitched pieces as follows with right sides together.  Once again, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the little squares from corner to corner.

Pin each piece far enough out that your foot will go by and then once again, stitch a 1/4" seam along both sides of the drawn diagonal line.  (Remember to chain stitch to save time :)

Clip your threads and then using your ruler aligned along the drawn line cut your 2 separate pieces apart.

Press up toward the background triangles again.  Lastly, trim off the dog ears.

And you are done!!!  Perfectly precise flying geese blocks without throwing away any scraps and without sewing a single triangle.  Fabulous!!  You should have 24 Flying Geese total.

STEP 4 - SEWING BLOCK

Gather (4) Focal A/Focal B HST's, 4 Focal A/Background HST's and 4 Focal A Flying Geese units.  Lay the units out as follows.

We will being by stitching the center together.  Place the right hand unit onto the left with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge of both pairs.  Press each pair in opposite directions.

Lay the top row onto the bottom with right sides together.  Nest the center seam and pin in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge.  Press open.

Now you can sew the units into three rows.  Place the side units onto the center units of each row with right sides together.  Pin in place if needed.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges.

 Press the center row in and the top and bottom row out.

Place the top row and bottom row onto the center row with right sides together.  Take care to nest the seams and pin them in place.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along both pinned edges.    Press.

And your block is complete.  It should measure 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" unfinished.

STEP 5 - SEWING THE ROW

Repeat Step 4 to make a total of 6 blocks, 3 of each color layout.

Lay the blocks out in a row, alternating the color layout.  Using a 1/4" seam, stitch the blocks into a row.

And the top is done.  Now just to finish it.

STEP 6 - FINISHING

Gather the 10" focal fabric squares and lay them in a row alternating colors.  Using a 1/2" seam stitch the blocks into a row to create the pieced backing.

Create a quilt sandwich and baste it as desired.  Quilt your table runner as desired.  I choose to do straight stitches in the star centers to emphasis the stars (shown in first block) and then a loopy background.

Lastly, simply create a binding strip from your 3 background WOF strips and bind the table runner.  Now just sit back and enjoy.  Almost makes me wish it were snowing, almost :)

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  If you make a Midnight Frost table runner I would love to see it.  You can add it to my Flickr group here :)  

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend!!

Linking up this fun little table runner finish to Amanda's and Sarah's :)