So, are you keeping busy?

You may wonder about the title of this blog; well, that is a question I often get. And if people ask something like that, it is obvious that they haven't witnessed the neat creativity display on the dining room table, which is more like a craft corner lately... :)

And to my ever restless crafty bone, the acquisition of a sewing machine as my Christmas gift last year is making it spin, twirl, loop, hop, and smile!  Or, as I have said before, it makes ideas in my head tickle! :)

And going back to keeping busy, this post is just one token of the ripple effects in the once-used-for-sharing-meals dining room (which I confess extends to the living room quite often...).

A good friend of mine got married last September, providing me with a wonderful opportunity for transferring those tickling ideas into practice...  After a little thought, I decided to ask her what their favorite colors are (blue and green, as you can see), and started the hunt for fabric...  It all ended up with a table runner and three thermal trivets; I thought this would be a neat, practical gift that they could use many times.  And they liked it!!  :)

I would have had more pictures of the process itself, but I took them while I was making the runner, back in July, mainly for documentation. I'll probably blog more about the "how to" later. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these! :)

This is the pieced table runner - that basically means the top part, made up of tiny scraps (or *pieces*) of fabric, in different shapes and sizes, sewn together.

Something that I discovered while making this runner is that the back is as equally interesting as the front.  So, just in case you're curious, here it is!

After the pieced top was finished, I prepared what is called a "quilt sandwich."  This sandwich consists of a pieced top, batting in the middle and the back layer of fabric, which must be sewed together. This makes the finished quilt (the table runner, in this case) have a sort of "puffy" look, which varies according to the stitch direction or pattern. A fun way of quilting is by "free motion quilting" the sandwich. This is the technique I used for quilting the runner. Basically, the quilt sandwich has to be moved in different directions in order to make a design with the thread.

This is the back view, after the quilting was finished. 

The finished table runner, front and back views:

So, how do you keep yourself busy when you're at home?