Karen Says Sew

I thought I would share a little publishing magic with all of you today and it might help you with your last minute gift ideas. Quite some time ago I created a holiday version of this Easy Striped Table Runner as a free handout for Timeless Treasures. The project is so much fun that it has become one of their most requested handouts. We decided to update the instructions using a new non-holiday stripe and these photos are of the piece in progress. Making the actual runner is light years easier than taking the step-by-step photos! I actually have to take several photos of each step to make sure I get a good one and I have to take each and every step so that there is no confusion! The process includes putting the white table on the floor so that I can stand on the chair, hold the camera directly above the project and snap the shots "blind". Then I have to edit my toes out of the photos, color correct the best ones and send them on to New York. Isn't my life glamorous? I'll bet you thought some fancy schmancy studio was involved.

This runner makes a wonderful last minute gift! It only has FIVE seams! The trick is to use a stripe fabric and a 60 degree equilateral ruler. If you can't find the ruler, you can use the 60 degree lines on your regular ruler, but the specialty ruler takes all the guess work out of measuring. Once the top is assembled, the instructions have you put the top right-sides-together with the backing and stitich around the outside edge, pillowslip style. Personally, I prefer to quilt first and apply a binding, but if you are short on time, that pillowslip style works just fine. You also don't have to mark any quilting lines, just follow the stripes!

The instructions for the runner are available as a free download on the Timeless Treasures website at http://www.ttfabrics.com/ Click on "patterns" in the menu bar. Once you get the listing, take a look around, you will find the instructions for some great projects and all of them are FREE! The Bejeweled Table Runner uses the same equilateral triangle shape as the Easy Striped Runner, if you have the ruler, print them both!

I am FINALLY catching the holiday spirit! We managed to get the tree and the house decorated over the weekend. The tree has been up and lit for well over a week and I was beginning to think it looked pretty good without decorations. I love the lights and our tree has a ton of them all "professionally" wired in place by me. Years ago I decorated trees for a chain of Christmas stores. Starting in August I would begin to light artificial trees, wrapping the lights from the trunk, out each branch and back into the center. The cord is well hidden and you never see any "wires" draping from branch to branch. It's beautiful, but it takes HOURS to do and you can calculate 100+ lights for each foot of tree. Our 10' tree has 1200 lights!

I had so much help with the decorating that much to my families delight, I decided to spend the afternoon baking cookies. The chocolate chip (my husbands favorite) were finished, when he asked for "those ones with the Hershey Kisses". I told him that if he would run to the store I would make fudge too. Even though the weather was wicked, he agreed and I made him a very precise list. Unfortunately he FOLDED the list and only got the items on the "top half". Chances are he had forgotten his glasses and I should be happy that he remembered the Kisses. That man can fix anything, thinks nothing of a home improvement that involves a bulldozer, is willing to do the family laundry and will clean anything, but when it comes to cooking, he is clueless. The bad news is, no fudge, the good news is, I got out of the kitchen earlier than I had planned.