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Thursday, January 21, 2021

Snowflake Table Runner

Welcome to my day of the Hearts on Fire blog hop, hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. I've showed several sneak peeks lately and now it's time for the big reveal of my heart themed Snowflake runner!

white heart themed snowflakes on a blue background for a table runner by QuiltFabrication

For years, I've wanted to make a runner of randomly placed and falling-off-the-edge snowflakes. But the mechanics of how to do that eluded me. Sure, I could cut paper patterns and trace them, but that didn't sound like fun.

Then, when the Hearts on Fire hop came up to use hearts, but with the stipulation that we couldn't use red, I had to think outside the box. It's then that things started to fall into place to finally realize my snowflake runner dream.

First, I started to play with the wreathmaker tool in EQ8. I made a few hearts, added extra elements to them, then adjusted everything with the wreathmaker tool to create my first snowflake.

one white heart themed snowflake

Turns out, designing the snowflakes became addicting. Within a hour or so, I had four heart themed snowflakes designed in EQ8. That's all fine and good, but how do I get them easily to fabric?

Element two now comes into play to make all of this work. Enter Flexi-Fuse (affiliate link), a new-to-me fusible web.

flexi fuse applique webbing

I had ordered this several months ago, but hadn't tried it yet. Then it dawned on me - I could print my snowflake outlines, eliminating the tracing work. Sweet! Tomorrow, I'll review Flexi Fuse, sharing some pointers on using it. 

Now, back to the snowflakes. All that was necessary was a suitable background fabric, a bit of random placement, and my snowflake runner becomes a reality.

snowflake appliques fused to a background


Though the snowflakes look complex, they're really quite simple. Looking closely, most of them cut out as one piece. Some are several pieces of easy shapes. My goal was to make them interesting but not complicated.

Printing, fusing, and cutting went smoothly, as did the applique stitching using invisible thread and a short, narrow zigzag in free motion mode or what I call freemotion applique. 

What's freemotion applique? It's a faster way to stitch around an applique without all the turning, and the same technique I used on Gnome for the Holidays - check out the Freemotion Applique tutorial, or watch my Freemotion Applique in action on YouTube.

stitching down snowflake appliques


Once all the applique stitching was done, it was time for quilting. I chose a dense, echoed triangle fill for the background, plus outlining around the snowflakes.

dense echoed triangle fill around snowflakes


Notice there's no binding showing. I'll go over how I did that in a post next week. For now, enjoy a couple more closeups of those pretty heart-themed snowflakes.

closeup of four heart themed snowflakes on a table runner by QuiltFabrication

And the other end.

closeup of four heart themed snowflakes

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! It came out better than I ever could have imagined.

A couple more things:

The Snowflake runner pattern is available in my Etsy shop. The pattern includes the 7 full size, printable snowflakes used on the runner, plus an eighth bonus snowflake. 

And be sure to visit these other quilters today for their heart inspired creations. 

 January 21

Ms P Designs USA

Beaquilter

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Ridge Top Quilt

For The Love Of Geese

Sew Many Yarns

Quilting Gail


For the full Hearts on Fire blog hop list for the week, please visit Carol at Just Let Me Quilt.

orange heart on fire

 Happy Quilting!



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38 comments:

  1. Nice work. I especially love your quilting. Will be back to see how you finished the edges...facing?

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  2. Oh I love your runner! What a great idea! Now I want to go play in EQ.

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  3. Wow, this is beautiful! I love the heart snowflakes on the blue background. Perfect! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Beautiful blue table runner! Tanks for sharing.

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  5. I love the variety of snowflakes in this! It's unique and beautiful all in one. You never cease to amaze me with what you create! Thank you for hopping along with us and sharing this pretty no-red heart table runner. xo

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  6. Such creative snowflakes. Hearts and snowflakes are so uplifting! Love the blue and white in your project. Free motion applique - that's a technique I really want to try!

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  7. Very pretty and winter appropriate right on through Valentines!

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  8. That is absolutely gorgeous and what a creative way to accomplish them.

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  9. So cute!!! Now I must check out my EQ8 designs a little more closely!

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  10. WOW! What a stellar project. It is over the top wonderful. Thanks for sharing it and the pattern with us.

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  11. What fun heart snowflakes!!! Such a great idea, and it looks fabulous! I have used Flexi-Fuse once and liked it. I'm curious how you printed it since it's not fully printer paper size, so I'll be back tomorrow :)

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  12. That was definitely outside the box. Fabulous. You're so creative.

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  13. Hi Susan, I love your table runner! BEAUTIFUL!!! I'll have to come back and watch your free-motion applique video when I'm ready to do it!
    Happy Quilting! :-)

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  14. Gorgeous table runner! I ❤ your snowflakes.

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  15. It's stunning, Susan. I love that you were able to combine the blog hope challenge with a long running desire!

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  16. Your snowflakes are fabulous. I love the incorporation of the hearts into each snowflake.

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  17. I recently also purchased the Flexi Fuse. I have not tried it yet. Can't wait to see what you think about it. Is it stiff let wonder under or very light like misty fuse? Thanks for posting with all the info.

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  18. You have outdone yourself, this is beautiful as so far the best heart theme I have seen.

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  19. This looks amazing! I love your blue and white snowflake hearts.

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  20. Your snowflake table runner is exquisite and I love it! Great work!

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  21. Such a pretty table runner. I have to find out about your special way of applique.

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  22. So pretty and lots of great information in your post. Thanks for sharing.

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  23. hej susan, what an amazing table runner! great work and very interesting applique ....greeteings from denmark, ulrike :0)

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  24. What a pretty snowflake runner. I love the hearts in the snowflake designs. Your applique looks wonderful too.

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  25. Very innovative and pretty. Well done.

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  26. Love the heart wreath snowflakes. Printing is so much better than tracing as is a cutting machine....my next favorite thing to do. I need to make some of these, as I love wreaths and love what you did!

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  27. great way to use hearts but not in reds or pinks! very clever!!!

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  28. Hearts in snowflakes - great for the ski lover (we've had enough snow this winter, thank you).

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  29. Another EQ8 wreath maker fan, here. You came up with stunning designs. The contrast of the royal blue and white lets the snowflakes sparkle.

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  30. I absolutely LOVE your Snowflake (Heart) runner, Susan!!

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  31. Susan this snowflake heart runner is a winner! Now I’m heading over to check your tutorials. Thank you for sharing. 😉

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  32. I love your snowflake heart table runner! It is beautiful!

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  33. Gorgeous snowflakes. Love that they have heart shapes in them!

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  34. Lovely table runner! Well done.
    Thank you for sharing and linking up!

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Thank you so much for commenting...you just made my day!