:: May 2004 
Advice
Making a Quilted Table Runner to Commemorate Events and Fibre Friendships
The next time you reach a birthday milestone ending in a zero or arrive at a significant anniversary or new direction in your life, consider asking your fibre friends for a quarter yardage of fabric so that you can make a table runner to mark your special event. The fabrics may be remnants that reflect your friends' tastes, or they may be fabrics purchased with your tastes in mind.
Once you have your fabric offerings in hand, arrange them on a table with plenty of room to play with their colors and textures. Unless you request a color family ahead of time, you will receive a wide range of fabrics with which to work.
Decide which colors can lie next to each other in your table runner and which need to be away from one another. Decide, too, whether to try a patchwork design or an appliqu?© design. Then, look through quilt books to get design ideas. Remember, your table runner will be a fraction of the size of a quilt, so your fibre project will go quickly in comparison. You may select block styles, patchwork styles, or medallion styles for your smaller scaled project.
Your commemorative table runner can be as ornate or as homespun as the fabrics you receive allow it to be. Once you have finished your table runner, you can decide whether to edge it with crochet or fringe or leave it with plain edges.
As you work, you will have the added pleasure of thinking of each of your fabric donor friends and the friendships you enjoy through your common love of fibre