Beekeeper's Heaven

My first finish for the 2015 FAL is accomplished, the table runner I named Beekeeper's Heaven.

I once won the golden hexagon fabric (center in the block above) at my Local Quilt Guild meeting, and I wondered what to use it for?! It was lying in my stash a long time, unused, but when I started picking fabrics for the Quatrefoil blocks, it was just a perfect match for block centers. It almost looks like beeswax, and looks really good together with the soft pink print, charcoal and green. The eggshell colored solid background matches any interior.

After a wash and dryer cycle the table runner measures 17.5" x 41", It looks great on my coffee table, just a shame that it will not stay there... The table runner will soon be on its way to a couple of friends who among other things are beekeepers, that explains the name!

The runner is quite densely quilted with straight lines in the negative space. The way the lines crosses and makes a "waffle" design gives an interesting effect, in my opinion.

I used FMQ in the Quatrefoil blocks, and the one thing I am mostly pleased with are the bees in the two golden hexagon center blocks. The design of the bees comes from Lori at the The Inbox Jaunt. She has wonderful tutorials on free motion quilting, and even I, who am a novice in this, managed to make an image which fairly resembles a bee (!)

There was also room for a few hearts in the corner blocks.

The center Quatrefoil block has a pink, gorgeous fabric from my stash. Due to the busy design of the fabric I chose to quilt this center with a square spiral. Most of the quilting on this runner is done with a neutral cotton thread from Connecting Threads, but the petals of the charcoal block is quilted with a dark grey cotton thread. The picture above is taken before wash, and you can easily see the structure of the quilting. I am a big fan of straight line quilting!

Here is a close-up of the square spiral and the FMQ of the center block.

The runner is backed with a light flower print from my stash. The binding is also an old piece from my stash, Candy Cane Angels by Lynette Anderson The binding was cut at a width of 2", and is a double fold. 

It feels good to finish another stash-busting project, and one that is so good looking!

My original goal post for the 2015 FAL for the second quarter can be found HERE

Linked up to Fabric Frenzy Friday, Link a Finish Friday, Finish it up Friday and Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday.