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| Shamrock Table Runner |
Shamrock Table Runner – A Festive St. Patrick’s Day Quilting Project
The Shamrock Table Runner is a beautiful table runner for a summer quilting project that can be made with traditional patchwork and creative appliqué techniques. This festive project from Joan Ford of Hummingbird Highway is dedicated to St. Patrick's Day in beautiful green fabrics, fun shamrock shapes and fun patchwork details.
This table runner will measure 15" x 49" once finished, and will add a bit of Irish flair to your dining table, kitchen or seasonal home decor. The long shape lends it to being spread across a dining table, and cheerful shamrock designs make it a great focal point for the spring season.
Creative Patchwork & Appliqué
Joan Ford's use of small nine-patch blocks and appliqué heart pieces to form the familiar three-leaf shamrock is probably one of the most interesting aspects of her design. The shamrocks are composed of three green hearts of fabric and a single stem, set on a light background square.
The materials used in the construction are small pieces of cloth. Joan is using 108 green print squares which are 1 ½" to make 12 scrappy 9 inch patches. These are then expanded by adding on more green fabric strips and cut out to create heart-shaped leaves with fusible web and the supplied templates.
The four completed shamrock blocks are set in a row, sashed in green and bordered in green. A clever construction to create an interesting patchwork and soft appliqué geometric shapes for the runner.
Fabrics, Materials, and Techniques
Joan chose True Colors – Wallflowers in Green by Amy Butler for FreeSpirit Fabrics as her primary Kelly green print for the sashing, borders, binding and backing for her original sample. She also used a variety of green waste and small volume white prints to create the block backgrounds.
The project features an appliqué using fusible web, quilted layers using batting and coordinating cotton thread. Joan suggests wool batting as it is pretty and has a good loft.
Finishing is done with a blanket stitch appliqué, free motion and traditional double fold binding. These techniques offer a chance to attach beautiful texture and hold the appliqué pieces in place.
Difficulty: The original tutorial has no official difficulty level. The nine-patch, fusible appliqué and free motion quilting techniques combine to make it a project that is rewarding for more confident beginning and intermediate quilters, though.
Final Thought
The Shamrock Table Runner will be a great example of how a fabric scrap can be transformed into something special. The clever application of the nine patch blocks in the shamrock leaves are my favorite. This is a fun project to try, even if you're just looking for a way to work with green fabrics, you'll get to practice some helpful quilting techniques and end up with a lovely handmade table decoration.
Full Pattern: Shamrock Table Runner Free Pattern
