Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Maple Leaf Table Topper

The quilting Gods decided to play a dirty trick on me.  I was making stupendous progress on the Pansy Sampler Quilt, finished all of the quilting except those on the borders, could see a finish near at hand, when muscle spasms in my left shoulder and neck made pushing and pulling that heavy quilt through the Juki an exercise in pain.

I finally made myself set the quilt aside.

I'd been toying with the idea of making a fall table topper or table runner for some time (as soon as I finished the Pansy Sampler quilt).  There was no time like the present.  I knew the small project would cause me no harm.

Voila! My cousin chose the color of the maple leaves.  It measures approximately 16" square and now resides on a table in the living room.  Lori has the house beautifully decorated with a combination of a Halloween ~ Autumn theme.  (She has our grandmother's talent for such things.) The table topper is my small contribution to the effort.  It went together really quickly, and I'm yearning to make others.


The thing that took me the longest was deciding how to quilt it. The center space between the maple leaves is pebbled.  I was puzzled about quilting the leaves themselves and hoped the design I chose would be somewhat reminiscent of wind.


Please forgive the rather poor pictures.  I do not have Eric's talent for photography.  Normally, I would have had him take them, but he has been working 16 hour days.  Ack! 




14 comments:

  1. It really ties the room together.

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  2. I hope your shoulder and neck rectify quickly Michelle. That happened to me when I used a wool blanket as batting in one of my quilts a while back.(Never again!)

    The fabrics in the maple leaf table topper are beautiful. What a great project!

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  3. Lovely fabric,I really like the one with the leaves and purple and blue. Surprising as purple isn't my colour.
    I'm always rubbish at deciding how to quilt. So many options, so limited skills! Hope your shoulders unwind soon and you can get on with your sampler.

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  4. What a pretty runner! Love that you used different fabrics for each of the leaves, but it still overall is very fall like. Great quilting too. It does give it that wind motion, I think.

    LOL at Eric's comment, Lebowski fan that I am.

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  5. Lovely table topper! I like the idea of using four different fabrics. The quilting looks great! Speedy recovery on your neck and shoulder! Do allow yourself breaks when quilting!

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  6. Lovely work. I like it very much.
    Sorry to hear about the quilting gods not favoring your shoulder and neck. Hope that gets better soon.

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  7. Hope you're feeling better soon. The table topper is lovely.

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  8. Such a cool table topper - simple but very elegant!! I love your quilting choices, too. Now I want to make one!! I see a small project in my immediate future...... ;-)

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  9. I'm thinking even that's too big. Can you quilt me a single coaster? Thanks!

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  10. Beautiful, Michelle. I love the fabrics you used.

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  11. You are gonna have a pretty fall table! It is a neat pattern and great choice of fabrics and prints.
    I'm sorry for your pain, do take it easy. It makes me sad when the end is so close, to not be able to finish only be because of pain, how frustrating!
    hugs, pokey

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  12. HOpe your shoulder is feeling better. Really neat table topper.

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  13. I LOVE maple leaves. That is a really pretty table topper and I love the quilting you did in the leaves. It is beautiful! You've got some really great FMQ skills! Love it!

    xo -E

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Your comments brighten my day. :-)