Marvelous Mushroom Magic with Banyan Batiks Daisy Chain

Hello!

Welcome to my first blog post with QUILTsocial. My name is Tania Denyer and I have been designing quilts for about 20 years. I love to create projects that are fun and whimsical. I hope you enjoy this pattern and please comment and ask questions… I’m happy to help out! Please share your projects on social media too… you can find me @iamgingerq on Instagram.

I’m excited to get started and show you how to make a marvelous mushroom table runner with Banyan Batiks Daisy Chain!

First things first… materials

• ½ yd of two background fabrics (fabric A; fabric B)
• ¾ yd backing fabric
• ¼ yd binding fabric
• fat quarters in three or four colors for the mushrooms
• cotton batting
• cotton thread

As you’re choosing your colors, which is a very exciting part of any project, keep in mind the importance of contrast.

If you want your mushrooms to pop, have them in brighter or more saturated colors than the background.

If you want your project to be more subtle, you can choose fabrics for your mushrooms in a softer color, perhaps closer to your background fabric, but not so close as to make your mushrooms disappear!

For my project, I chose basic neutrals for the background to let the brighter yellows and oranges of this colorway of Banyan Batiks Daisy Chain pop.

I’m including a PDF drawing of the pattern if you want to print and color it in to help you decide. This is a technique I use often and helps a lot with color choices, and besides, it’s fun to color!

Another tip, keep in mind the color of your binding… a muted color will keep your project simple and brighter color to give a crisp edge to your project. I chose a muted shade to allow the mushrooms to be the star of the show.

For your backing, it is good to have a pattern that you can use in reverse as the quilting I’ll be demonstrating will create the design on the back.

You may notice my fabric is slightly wrinkly… I pre-wash all my fabrics. The project will work wonderfully, either way, it’s simply a matter of personal preference.

Now to cut into your chosen fabrics…

From the background fabric cut the following:

9 squares @ 6½” square of fabric A

9 squares @ 6½” square of fabric B

Next arrange your square into 3 squares x 6 squares (total 18 squares).

Sew together in a checkerboard pattern.

Press well but resist the urge to trim or square the backing at this point. That is best left for the end.

Join me tomorrow, I’ll show you how to fuse the applique pieces to the checkerboard background using HeatnBond Light. I can’t wait to show you how awesome the applique mushrooms look in the Banyan Batiks Daisy Chain fabric!