A Modern Christmas Table Runner

As planned I have a new runner for the front hall table, my modern Christmas table runner is finished!
When I first looked at the directions I was thinking this would be a pain, but really the cutting was the worst part. I did have to make some adjustments before quilting because the sizes of some of the pieces were not very accurate so some trimming was required but other than that it was pretty simple.
In case you are wondering, it came from "Connecting Threads".

Using more great Superior threads, I quilted the gifts with Rainbows threads used in some of the applique, in a simple meandering loopy design and the ribbons in a "ribbon" sort of design. These threads are fine so they do not show up boldly.

  I thought about quilting the white part with the same variegated Rainbows thread, but decided I wanted something more subtle and found this  "glitter" thread, it's a flat "hologram" thread, comes in 24 colors I think this is the pearl, though the flash shows up very pink in the pic.    

It has been  in my collection for some time and it looked as if it would represent sparkly snowflakes very well. I have never used it before but depending upon the reliability of Superior brand threads and "Dr" Bob's excellent directions for use of all their threads, I decided to give it a try and from the first few experimental stitches it sewed beautifully.  I loosened the tensions a bit more, they were already dialed back for the trilobal thread, and I had zero thread breakage or any other problems. Dr. Bob suggests a #14 needle but I just left the #16 titanium that I had used for the trilobals.

I hope you can see from these close up pics that the thread has sewn in perfectly and gives a delightful soft sparkly look, I wish I had a black light to show it better. I did have quite a few threads to "bury" because these are slippery threads that would be liable to unravel if not properly secured.

 I am very pleased with my new runner and the thoroughly modern backing.

The double fold bias binding I made finishes it up nicely, woohoo success!