Sunshine Runner

I was lucky enough to have Lauren Hunt photograph my sunshine table runner.  All the photos in this post, in fact, were styled, shot and edited by Lauren.  I have decided not to feel badly about how sad my pictures look in comparison because she is a professional photographer; she has a degree in photography and years of experience (besides being an amazing artist, illustrator, quilter, pattern designer, fabric designer, and person in general).  

Most recently she was the photographer for School of Sewing, a Fall 2014 release written by Shea Henderson of Empty Bobbin Sewing, published by Lucky Spool.  The cover alone tells you it is going to be so, so good! 

 

Lauren also shoots covers for American Quilt Retailer. So, you can see how striking and lovely her work is.

Now, back to the runner.  It is a gift for my mother-in-law, who asked me to make something to use for spring and summer décor in her dining room. She requested that it include yellow.  I wanted to create something sunny and fairly traditional to suit her house.  I went with a common variation on the log cabin block.  Each block uses a different pair of yellow and gray prints. 

Using two different width strips, on opposite sides of the log cabin square, creates the illusion of a circular block.  My strips finished at 1/2 inch and 1 inch respectively.  Thin strips! Each block finishes at 11 inches square, making an 11 x 55 inch runner. (A pattern for a similar block in a larger size can be found in the spring issue of Quilt Sampler magazine. The pattern is by Holly deGroot of bijou lovely.)

I quilted the runner with swirls with light gray Aurifil thread to echo the circular design of the blocks.

Many thanks to Lauren for these gorgeous images.