Simple Charms

Time was tight this week, so I made a 3 hour project.  Part of the challenge of Project Quilting is making it fit your life, so I consider this one a success even though it's not the most exciting project I've ever made.  Maybe if I have added a fairy tree.....

I started with my stack of charm squares.  These were all cut by me a few years ago when I was teaching a class all about different options to use charm squares.  So I went through the stack and picked out the ones that fit a nice bright and happy theme.  I thought 36 was a good number.

Then I sewed them all together in a 6 x 6 layout.  No, I did not sew them like they are laid out above.  I just sewed them together randomly.  For some reason I didn't take a picture after they were sewn.  This blogging is new to me and I'm still working on taking more pictures.

I laid the finished piece on my cutting mat and cut it into 6 1/2"  strips horizontally and vertically.  I started at one edge and when the cut was going to end up almost right the seam near the middle, I cut the seam out and kept going.

I assembled the new blocks in a 3 x 5 layout to make a table runner.  I had one block left over.

 Since all this was really quick and easy, I thought I'd try making the binding out of charm squares, too.  I picked out 12 more charms and sewed them together. (It seems like one square in the middle was cut a little big, but I didn't worry about it because of how this piece would be used.) I should have pressed all these seams open.  I didn't so I re-pressed them all after they were cut.

I next cut diagonally into 2 1/2" strips.  Since I had that one block left over, I decided to cut it the same way.  I then joined all the strips end to end.  The ends were already cut on the diagonal, so they went together easily.  I didn't do any calculations to figure out how manycharms  I needed, but it came out pretty close.

Simple, fast, done.
Finished size 18" x 30"
Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI