Prairie Flower Tutorial Reboot – Featuring Guest Blogger Natalie Barnes

Make a Prairie Flower Table Runner with Natalie Barnes!

Hi there, everyone!  It’s Natalie Barnes, here.  Proprietor of beyond the reef pattern company, licensed designer for Windham Fabrics, and author of A Modern Twist (Martingale/TPP).   

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

I’m just so excited to be here at Missouri Star Quilt Co.’s blog!  This year, I had the great opportunity to participate in the Missouri Star Quilt Co. Birthday Bash with Windham Fabrics. I just fell in love with the work that MSQCo. has done with Hamilton, Missouri!  Every detail you could possibly want or imagine is available for your visit. They have beautifully organized each and every one of the different shops, provided great dining and food options, and even created a retreat center!  For me, with a background in interior design/architecture, I loved seeing the buildings being restored to their original grandeur, and it was fascinating to hear about the local history that MSQCo. is keeping alive!  Thank you, Jenny, for making all of this a reality.

Natalie Barnes visiting Missouri Star Quilt Company!

There’s no getting around it.  As quilters, we are precise.  And we are organized.  Each and every one of us, organized.  Well.  In our own way.

Personally, I fall into the “controlled chaos” method of organization.  If you look at Amy Ellis’ charts and graphs manner of calculating yardage, you’ll see another way.  Or Angela Walters’ ribbon candy quilting.  Precise.  Organized.

We know exactly where a 1/4″ seam lies on any sewing machine we come across.  We always know where our sewing scissors are and where we keep (read: hide) the rotary cutters.  We know how much yardage we need for binding, and like Mama Jenny, we know that there are twelve (12) 5″ squares in a fat quarter, and fifty six (56) 2-1/2″ square “snowballs” or “dog ears” in a fat quarter, as well.  

Precise and Organized.

That’s what I’m going with.

Until someone calls and says, “You’re hosting Tuesday’s luncheon”, and we go into a sort of….well….you know the drill.  How many 10″ square napkins can I get out of two yards of fabric?  What is the standard size of a placemat?  Can I just turn them right sides out and quilt?  Will anyone notice they’re not bound?  I need something to go with the runner I have on the dining room table!!!  Oh.  Wait.  Food.  She said luncheon, didn’t she

That drill.

Jill Marie Landis, writer, best girlfriend, and inspiration for my pattern company, beyond the reef, would say, “If I walked in to Natalie’s house before a party, and didn’t find her just stepping out of the shower, I’d think I was in the wrong home.”   

“But the placemats are done”, I would reply, “and they match the runner”!  

One day it hit me.  Make the table runners in pairs, run them along the short side of the table, and voila!  The table is coordinated.   Table runner as placemat.  Two for one!

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

 

And with the amount of resources that Missouri Star Quilt Co. gives us, a quick review of the youTube channel is all we need to select a fool proof block large enough to use for our runners doubling as placemats.

This project is made using the pattern “Prairie Flower“, and Hand Maker Fabrics – my very first line of fabric, I’m proud to say – by Windham Fabrics.

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern
Once the fabrics are chosen, create a “color recipe” for the project.

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

The Blossoms will be made using the three medium value prints.

The Leaves will be the bright/dark prints, and they are scrappy – the more the merrier.

The Center of the Blossom will be the grey print, and the snowballs will be a mottled solid.  (Palette by Marcia Derse for Windham Fabrics)

Select a favorite print from Hand Maker for the backing – and use a contrasting binding.  This will give you two runner “looks”  from one set of runners!

For the two 13-1/2″ x 67-1/2″ runners, 1 x 5 blocks each, cut a total of:

Blossoms:   (40) 5″ squares

Leaves: (40) 5″ squares

Centers: (10) 5″ squares

Snowballs: (160) 2-1/2″ squares

Remember, your piecing accuracy is only as good as your cutting accuracy.  Here’s my first hint – – take time with this step, and enjoy the process.  Using the 2-1/2″ ruler and the 5″ ruler from the MSQCo. shop is really time efficient.  There’s no stopping to confirm the dimension is 5″ not 6″  (admit it, you know you’ve done it.  I’ve also cut tons of 3″ squares, thinking they were 2-1/2″, too.  Precise 3″ squares.  I’ll admit it….)

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

Snowballs: 1 yard mottled solid

Binding: 2-1/4″ straight binding / 2/3 yard

(10) 40″ x 2-1/4″ strips

Backing: 2-1/8 yards

(leaving 4″ top and bottom for machine quilting / placing two runners

side by side when machine quilting)

Use Mama Jenny’s proven method of ironing the snow balls from corner to corner, and settle in with a good wholesome “lots of dialog” movie and start stitching until all of the snow ball corners complete.  

Here is Jenny’s full tutorial:

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

Here’s another little hint – press open your snow balls and be sure they align with the corners of the 5″ square BEFORE trimming the fabric from the back.  This will help keep your 5″ squares “square”.

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

Once all of your pieces are completed, head to your design wall, or other flat surface, and lay out the pieces, until you are satisfied with the look of your runners, and the colors are dispersed evenly throughout your project.

Finally, it’s time to pop in the second movie, and begin sewing your 5″ squares together to form your runners.   

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

Now that the tops are complete, it’s time to let Angela Walters do her magic.  Angela is an author, instructor, lecturer, Robert Kaufman Fabrics licensed designer and Owner of Quilting is My Therapy in Liberty Missouri.    If you’re looking for a private long arm quilting lesson, or even want to purchase your own Handi – Quilter long arm machine, head to Quilting is My Therapy. Having a machine quilter is the closest I can come to having four hands!  It gives me time to cut, sew, and prepare the binding for the quilt as it’s being quilted. Thank you Angela, for taking time to quilt this project!  

Once the quilts have returned, I like to reconnect with my project.  So, I use “natalie’s quilted binding” – by sewing the binding on to the wrong side, and turning it to the front.  Then I use a pearle 8 cotton and a running or quilting stitch close to the folded edge of the binding to attach or “quilt it’ on to the front of the quilt.  Finally, I look for a consistent area in each block to add in some big stitch pearle cotton quilting.  It adds a different texture, and, well, it’s just my “finishing touch”.

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

Precise and Organized, I say.  That’s how Hand Makers get things done.

So, give me a call.  Schedule a luncheon.  The table will be set, and I’ll be ready!

And if you’re looking for a new recipe, here’s my mother’s version of Waldorf Salad….just in case it’s your turn to host next month’s luncheon…

Waldorf Salad Recipe from Natalie Barnes

Many many thanks again to Missouri Star Quilt Co. for letting me stop by today and visit with all of you!

HappiestDays.

Natalie Barnes

be.do.create

Table Runner Tutorial -- Prairie Flower Pattern

Here’s where you can find out more information about Natalie Barnes / beyond the reef

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.instagram.com/beyondthereefpatterns

www.facebook.com/beyondthereefpatterns

www.pinterest.com/beyondthereefca

twitter@beyondthereefca

 

please post your projects using Hand Maker fabrics by Windham Fabrics using

#handmakerfabrics

we’d love to see what YOU make!!