Christmas tree table runner tutorial

Christmas tree table runner tutorial
by Rachel Janssen
December, 2009

The inspiration for this design came from Denyse Schmidt’s Roots quilt.

Table runner measures 3 ft long x 14 inches.

Step 1:
From cotton fabric (use up your scraps!), cut the following pieces:

Green scraps for tree branches (5-6 different greens):
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 6”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 5”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 4”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 3”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 2”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 1”

Brown fabric for tree trunk:
cut 2 rectangles 1.5 x 13.5”

Yellow fabric for wonky stars (5-6 different yellows):
cut 2 middle squares 1.5” sq.
scraps to make star points (I just used scraps but you might want to cut triangles)

Background fabric (I used white fabric from the thrift store):
cut 3 rectangles 2.5 x 14.5”
cut 36 rectangles 1.5 x 7”
cut 4 squares 1.5 x 1.5”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 2.5”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 3.5”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 4.5”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 5.5”
cut 4 rectangles 1.5 x 6.5”

Step 2:

Stitch together tree branch + background piece to make equal-length strips. Press.
tree branch + background
      6”                 1.5”
      5”                 2.5”
      4”                 3.5”
      3”                 4.5”
      2”                 5.5”
      1”                 6.5”

Piece together each branch of trees with a 1.5 x 7” background piece. Add 1.5 x 7” background piece to top (or bottom) so each side has white strip at top and bottom of tree. Press.

Determine layout (so different greens are next to each other and across) and piece tree sides together. Press.

Step 3:
Make wonky star points. (for additional help making wonky stars, please see this tutorial).
Stitch star points on to one end of 4-1.5 x 7” background rectangles.
Stitch star points on to one side of 2-1.5 x 1.5” background squares.
Stitch star points on to one end of 2-1.5 x 13.5” brown strips.

Piece middle star square to top and bottom star points (brown on bottom if your middle square has directional design). Press.

Stitch 1.5 x 7” background strips to top of side star points (on background strips). Piece this to top of tree side blocks. Press.
(There are different, probably easier, ways to assemble these trees-this is just how I put them together).

Step 4:
Piece brown vertical strips (with wonky star parts) to tree side blocks. Press.

Stitch 2.5 x 14.5” background strips to bottom of each tree. Piece 2.5 x 14.5” background strip to top of one tree then the other side of that strip to top of other tree. Press.

Table runner quilt top is now finished!

I quilted mine with (semi) straight lines through the strips.

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments. This is my first time writing a tutorial so I hope it makes sense!