Napa Table Runner

This is the first quilt block I made (February 2005). The block is officially called Patience Corner -- and this took patience! The Quilting 101 class I took started with templates and handpiecing, which is how this block was made. I now have huge respect for quilters of yesteryear who had no other way to piece. I knew I would soon learn machine piecing (otherwise I might have given up -- too slow!), so I was able to relax and enjoy the fabrics and colors. I chose grapes in honor of being in California and to help remember the fabulous trip to Napa Brian and I took right after we dropped our youngest child off at college. The subtle pattern in the green is vine leaves, and the blue is, well, just gorgeous. I think it may be a bit much for the table runner but, hey, this was my first block!



I made three blocks and assembled them to make a table runner. But I was stymied. I needed something to separate the blocks from my planned blue border (otherwise the blue in the blocks would run into the border), but I had no idea what to do. By then I was taking Begin with Bev II, again at Eddie's Quilting Bee, and Bev said some purple would make the quilt "pop" and pick up the purple in the grapes. I love purple, and thought it was a wonderful idea, but couldn't find the right fabric. So she found this one -- took her maybe 10 seconds! The purple is really rich and beautiful, but it doesn't show up well in these photos, sorry. If I get a better photo, I will post it. I used the purple on the binding, too. And as you can see, the blue border became a green border. It's one of the fun things about quilting, following where the quilt leads.



Here's the table runner at work. Often I put it across the center lengthwise, with three small candles in green, blue, and yellow holders that my mother gave me. Looks great. But here it is being used for challah and shabbat candles. The challah cover was made by me and my two daughters, Jocelyn and Valerie. Brian took one stitch so that we could say the whole family made it!