Hometown Runner Reveal

I'm very pleased to have a reveal for you.  Whilst guests were arriving yesterday afternoon, I was holed up on my bed finishing off the the binding.  I opted to hand stitch it this time as I wanted a really professional finish since it was going to someone else's home (and my MIL lives in a Retirement Village, no doubt there will be loads of scrupulous eyes from some old school crafters!!).

Not happy with the hand quilting

I really wasn't sure how I was going to quilt this one.  I wanted to show off the octagons and diamonds.  I thought this smallish piece would be a great one to try out hand quilting, so I went to my LQS and bought some Perle and Sashico Needles and came home and had a go at some hand quilting just inside the octagons.  After I did two I really didn't like it, my stitches were too rustic and my MIL's aesthetic is too modern.  I ripped them out and then I tried machine quilting inside the octagons which was looking great but I really didn't want to deal with hiding all those loose tails.

Better view of the straight line quilting on the back

In the end I went back to original source of inspiration here and did some straight line quilting either side of the seams.  I didn't even bother to draw the lines, just used my foot to measure approx. 1/8" to the right of the seam line, when you get to the end you turn it around and go back the other way.  It worked fairly well where the seams match up perfectly, not so great when you have to account for those little seams that are not.  It still looks good and just me being super-critical.

And here's a couple of happy snaps with the recipient.  The pattern and tutorial is the Summer Runner by Cluck Cluck Sew.

Linking to {Sew} Modern Monday.