Preparing for KCRQF

Hi all -

Lately I've been preparing my class supplies for the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival next week. As usual, I signed up for a bunch of classes, more than I should have. I made a mistake and signed up for classes all day Thursday through Saturday, assuming I would look at the show on Sunday. Last time, Sunday was a great day to look at the quilts and see the vendors because there were very few people there. Well, I guess they noticed how dead it was on Sunday, too, because this year the show ends on Saturday. Oops! And they have a no-refund policy for their classes so I'm just going to enjoy the classes and see as much of the show as I can in between. That'll be fine. It's not like I don't look at quilts every day!

In pulling together my supplies, I saw that one of the quilting classes lists bringing either sample sandwiches or a couple of small projects like table runners or wallhangings to use in class. I love that idea! I have so many sample sandwiches from classes just sitting that I don't know where to keep them or what to do with them. It'll be nice to work on a final project rather than adding to my samples pile. So I decided to make a couple of table runners that I can use later as gifts.

The first table runner I made was based on one made by Vicki on Machine Quilters' Resource (http://mqresource.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32505-modern-table-runner/). I really loved the design so decided to make one like it. Here's what I came up with:

Then I searched around on the Web for free table runner patterns and found a few that I liked. The first one I made is from the Squares and Strips Table Runner pattern from allpeoplequilt.com:

I used a package of 2.5" strips that I had purchased at a quilt show several years ago and a solid that I have in my stash. I really love how this turned out, but it's huge -- 26.5"x74.5". I'm going to bring it along to class just in case it works for whatever we do, but if I don't use it in class it might end up becoming part of the backing of a quilt.

The other table runner I made is from the Kaffe Kite Runner pattern from Rowan fabrics. I decided to use Kaffe fabric for mine, too, but changed the colors:

I really love how this one turned out and look forward to finding some interesting quilting designs for it. I hope I can use this one in class! I'm not exactly sure what we'll be learning. The class is called "Advanced Sit-Down Quilting on a Sweet 16: Combining Techniques to Create Ornate Motifs" and it sounds like we will be using stencils and/or rulers. Should be fun!

One other thing I made recently was a little project bag for a quilting friend's 70th birthday:

This is from the Peek-A-Boo Bag pattern by Terri Stoats. I made one of these bags for myself several years ago and I really love it. And it's quick and easy to make. I'll have to make a couple more of these!

Nancy