Christmas Table Topper

I have never made a table runner. I have admired many but have never actually made one myself. Why? Because we have a square table. The whole 'runner' concept down the middle of the table just seems a bit funny to me when applied to a square. Unless you make a square table runner of course - or table topper as I prefer to call it in this case. Until now I hadn't been inspired to conjure up a square topper.

When I decided to participate in the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop hosted by Kristy and Alyce I was determined to finally make the two items that I just hadn't done yet - a table topper and a cushion cover. That's right - I haven't made a quilted cushion cover before either (because cushion covers that are made to take for naptime when children start kindy don't count!). More on the cushion cover later.

I had been saving a couple of Kate Spain's Joy charm packs for some months. When I saw Alyce's Ornamental block patterns I knew immediately that this was the project for my much loved Kate Spain fabric. Alyce's patterns also lent themselves to being arranged in a square pattern, as the 'ornaments' were non-directional. And so I began.

I will admit to having quite a few late nights as a result of working on this only when children were all in bed asleep (as lovely as quilts and crafting projects are, they still come second to my family!). That's why the photos are never great - it couldn't be my lack of photographic skills!

The back of the quilt, flapping in the breeze while hanging on the line!

And this is the end result. I am really pleased with it and look forward to popping it in the centre of our table. I kept the quilting simple, as I wanted to showcase the ornaments around the edge without distraction. I also chose a tone on tone white for the background with the aim of having the ornaments 'float' around the edge. The idea is to place the Christmas ham (or bbq offerings!) in the centre space of the table topper (all my serving plates are square) framed by those delightfully festive ornaments. I love it!