Mother's Day

As Mother's Day was approaching, I had a hard time figuring out what to do for my mom and mother-in-law. After just moving from Seattle to MT, all my sewing supplies were in storage. Humph.

I was almost ready to settle on buying them something "unique", like lotion. (I know, I know...how creative.) But my mother-in-law had recently bought a brand new Bernina activa 230 - Patchwork Edition and she was willing to let me take it for a spin. I fell in love with the stability of the machine and the smoothness of every stitch. She has it on a roomy sewing table with attachable extensions and can lower the machine to be flush with the tabletop. Very nice! She said I could use it ANY time I wanted...so my gears started turning. What can I make in only a few days? Here's what I came up with...a spring table runner!

Here are some pics of one of them:

For the backing, I used leftover scraps so it could be reversible.

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch and then had a bit of fun with the polka dots. I tried using the darning foot to quilt in a freehand circle around a few of them. I haven't done much before with a darning foot, but it became a little easier with each polka dot.

Welp...Happy Mother's Day! May God bless all the mom's out there!