Snowflakes & Tinsels Runner

Usually when I browse for fabric, I have no idea what I want to do with them. The generic, vague answer is always ... a lap quilt. But once in awhile, I will see something that I immediately know exactly what I'm going to do with. During the Original Quilting & Sewing Expo in Schaumburg, I saw a pack of layer cake that was blue and silvery and had designs of snowflakes, and I knew immediately that it would be perfect for a Christmas / winter runner.

I didn't really have a pattern for this, but I knew I wanted to make an orange peel design. Each square is 4.5" finished, so I decided to do a runner that is 14 squares tall by 4 squares wide, so the final size will be 18" x 63".

I had a rather difficult time piecing this quilt, though. Although I cut the 10" squared fabric into 4 x 5" squares, the pinked edges made it rather difficult to cut accurately, and I ended up with squares that were bigger than others. This means when it comes to final assembly time, there are quite a few intersections that are off no matter how hard I try to nest them. It's not super obvious due to how saturated the fabric is, but it still bothers me.

I quilted the silver petals with some echoes and S-arcs, though the thread matched so well it's hard to see anything. I doodled some potential designs on paper for the middle section, and ultimately picked a radiating flower because it would be easier, and cover up some of the mismatched intersections.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I'm relieved that quilting can hide so many piecing issues. That phrase, "It'll quilt out" rings true.