Easy Quilt Patterns For Holiday Table Runners

Wow, it’s the middle of November and before we know it the holidays will be here. There are many easy quilt patterns for holiday table runners out there but I decided I would make my own up and share it with all of you. This table runner could be made for any time of the year as the design will lend itself to any fabric whether seasonal or not. I decided to go with a snowflake fabric so that it can be used beyond the Christmas season.

Fabric Selection

My fabric choices are for a green and red theme with a bit of blue and a lot of white thrown in. As we all know, green and red are definitely Christmas colors, but these hues aren’t quite the traditional green and red of Christmas. This way, the runner can be used throughout the winter which I hope will be short and sweet but the weathermen are telling me that won’t be the case this winter. If they’re correct that means that I’ll get lots of sewing done this winter.

For this project you will need the following fabrics.

• 20″ of a feature fabric – red circles with snowflakes in the center – Fabric A
• 20″ of a coordinating fabric – green with stars – Fabric B
• 20″ of a background fabric – white – Fabric C
• 30″ of a second coordinating fabric – green with snowflakes – Fabric D

When I started working on this project I had something else in mind with totally different fabrics but then changed my mind mid-design and have gone in a very different direction. It could almost be considered a bit of a mystery quilt since I haven’t provided a picture of what we are going to end up with. When I started I had no idea what I was going to end up with, but I know that you are going to like it.

The block I decided to use is called the Star of Hope and uses half square triangles and quarter square triangles to create a star within a star. This is what it looks like.

Cutting Instructions

Fabric A – Feature Fabric

• Cut ONE 8″ x WOF strip; sub cut into THREE 8″ squares – Piece A
• Cut ONE 2 ½″ x WOF strip; sub cut into SIX 2 ½″ squares – Piece B

Fabric B – Coordinating Fabric

• Cut TWO 3 ¾″ x WOF strips; sub cut into TWELVE 3 ¾″ squares – Piece C

Fabric C – Background Fabric

• Cut ONE 8″ x WOF strip; sub cut into THREE 8″ squares – Piece D
• Cut TWO 2 ½″ x WOF strip; sub cut into TWENTY-FOUR 2 ½″ squares – Piece E

Creating Half Square Triangles

My favorite method of making half square triangles (HST) is with a grid especially when the same 2 colors are used for all of the HSTs. Today I’ll prepare the grid and be ready to start sewing tomorrow. I want to end up ultimately with a 2 ½″ square and because this HST is going to be turned into a quarter square triangle I need to make the initial HST a bit larger since it’ll be sewn twice before it’s squared off to the required size.

The grid is usually made an inch larger than what the HST is to be squared off to. This allows for lots of leeway for trimming and squaring off. For example if the HST was to be 3 ½″ finished then the grid I would create divisible by 4 ½″. So 9 x 9 inches or 9 x 13 ½ inches. The grids can be made as big as you want.

I want my HST to be between 3 ½″ and 4″ in size and since 4 is a nice round number and divides into 8 easily that is what I went with. Keeping the math simple is a good thing.

Drawing the Grid

To create the grid place piece D on the table with the wrong side up. My piece D is white and since the lines that I need to draw on the fabric are never going to be seen I am using a plain old HB pencil. Divide the square in half and draw a line horizontally at the 4 inch mark.

Draw another line vertically at the 4 inch mark which will intersect the first line in the middle of the block.

Draw a third line from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Finally draw a fourth line from the top right corner to the bottom left corner. Repeat on the other 2 squares.

Happy Quilting