Table Runners ...and Toppers PATTERNS

Very nice gloria.....that is some great strippy fabric I like Lauras interpretation. Where do you manage to find the time...everytime i turn around you made something else...I seem to be stuck in slow gear.
These will be just great for spring

Love the table runners, Gloria!! What pattern did you use??

(and are they jellyfish with eyes?)

Pattern was Diva Designs My Spring... she has some funky cute stuff...... certainly fun to do.... they do look like jellyfish, but alas they are flowers... :lol:

jelly fish flowers, of course, undersea wobblies!

Soooo... I've got a question:

When does a tablerunner stop being a tablerunner and start being a table TARP?

Recently I discovered the free section at Quilt Bug (http://quiltbug.com/free/free.htm).

There are some nice (maybe predictable) patterns there for tablerunners/toppers, and a couple of stunners... but

One pattern finishes to 68x20". Another is 56x32". Still another is 20x55".

My dining table is 42" wide. If I used even the narrowest of these on my table at meal time, I'd only have 11" available for my plate - and heaven forbid that I want to make/use coordinating placemats.

Now, it's looks like the runners need to be that large for design purposes (though my guess is that it would be possible to make the components smaller... but who am I to say?) - but-but-but...

Am I missing some sort of important design element here? Am I unwittingly eating at "the kids' table" ? Inquiring minds...

Naaa... I have had the same problem with table runners... I tend to pick patterns that can be shortened for sure, if I can't change the width I use it a decorative cloth and remove it when we eat....

I think this would depend on the size of your table and how you intend to use the runners. My table is octagon when I don't have the leaves in it and looks kinda funny with a runner, but when I have one leaf in, the runners look great...I don't leave my runners on when I use placemats, my runners (when I use them) are for decoration only. The placemats are for meal time. I do agree that some of the runners seem to be humongous...but maybe they have BIG families and BIG tables..

[quote="FiberBabble"]Soooo... I've got a question:

When does a tablerunner stop being a tablerunner and start being a table TARP? [quote]

I have had the same question for awhile. My DH doesn't want to touch the runner. He is afraid he'll mess it up. A 'runner' for me doesn't need to be much bigger than a placemat width wise, and only a little longer. I have skipped a lot of patterns for this reason.

I usually have a centerpiece of some kind and get tired of moving everything for every meal.

I'm the Coaster Queen... my table is some sort of fancy wood that isn't coated with anything, so I'm really paranoid about marking or damaging the wood. It's weird... I make fun of my mom being so spastic about anything actually touching her table without protection (it's a varnished oak), but for some reason it makes sense to me to do it on MY table. :angelic:

Tablerunners are for looks when there isn't food around, and then they're put into service as protective coverings (doilies!!) when food's on the table. We also use placemats. And coasters.

Okay, honestly? We only eat at the table when we have company. The rest of the time it's a storage surface for my papers and books and (OMG) right now... Christmas decorations.

Wow. I sound really pitiful.

I use the long runners on my Dining room table...when I'm not sewing there. The long ones look kind of elegant? I don't use one on the kitchen table. We don't use that much either. Mostly we eat in the Family room while watching the news.