Piecing the Spectrum QAL 2020 Quilt: Little Girl in the Blue Armchair collection

We’re reaching the end of our wonderful journey making the Spectrum QAL 2020, and now I’ll show you how to assemble the bed runner. As you all know by now, I’m using The Little Girl in the Blue Armchair collection and I wish to thank Anthology Fabrics once more for being a part of this great quilt along. And I have quite a surprise for you: I actually made two quilts during the year with these wonderful fabrics!

Presenting the layout for the original bed runner quilt design

Once the 12 blocks were finished, I went into my bedroom and started playing with the layout. It can be quite puzzling, and I found what helps me the most is to take pictures of the layouts I like and look at them on a screen. That way, I can easily see which one works best.

Here’s the layout I chose for my bed runner; I really enjoy seeing how the blocks play off one another.

Here are my instructions for assembling the bed runner; you’ll notice it’s quite an easy process.

Step 1

1- Cut (11) 1½” strips from your background fabric.

2- Take one strip and cut:

• 1½” x 12½” rectangle
• 1½” x 27½” rectangle

3- Repeat with 6 more strips to have a total of 7 rectangles 1½” x 12½” (A) and 7 rectangles 1½” x 27½” (B).

4- Take the last 4 strips and cut a total of 11 rectangles 1½” x 12½” (A).

Step 2

• Stitch an A rectangle to two ends of your blocks positioned on the top part of your bed runner. (For my design, it’s Blocks 9, 1, 5, 3, 7 and 12.) Each rectangle should be 12½” x 14½”.

Step 3

• Stitch an A rectangle to one end of your blocks positioned on the bottom part of your bed runner. (For my design, it is block 2, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 4.) Each rectangle should be 12½” x 13½”.

Step 4

• Stitch your Step 2 rectangles to your Step 3 rectangles. Remember to respect the design layout! Each rectangle should be sizes 12½” x 27½”.

Step 5

• Stitch a B rectangle on the right-hand side of each Step 4 rectangle. Each rectangle should be 13½” x 27½”.

Step 6

• Stitch 2 x 2 your step 5 rectangles. Respect the design layout!

• Repeat to make 3 in total. Each rectangle should be sizes 26½” x 27½”.

Step 7

• Stitch your Step 6 units together. Respect the design layout!
• Stitch your last B rectangle to the left-hand side of your quilt.

The quilt should now be size 79½” x 27½”.

When designing the bed runner, I was planning on adding one last border to the design. But once the sashing was in place, I realized it was just the look I wanted for my room. Do feel free to add more borders to yours quilt top… let your inspiration dictate your design.

I hope you enjoyed assembling the quilt. Now, I did mention that I have another design layout? Come back next week to see what I also made for the Spectrum QAL 2020.