Heart Table Runner Quilt Tutorial

Several years ago I made this sweet little batik heart quilt that could be used for a baby or as a wall hanging. I finally used up the rest of the blocks and made a heart table runner!

Now that I am getting settled into my quilt studio, I’ve been going through boxes looking at projects that were never finished.

I remember when I made the baby quilt I was using my AccuQuilt GO! cutter and the 2-inch finished half square triangle die. I ended up cutting way more than I needed and even had a couple of blocks finished.

You can never have too many table runners and I thought it would be fun to make one that could be used for Valentine’s day.

I even pulled out the heart baby quilt so I could look at it and get some ideas of what I wanted to do.

I had two blocks finished so I only had to make 2 more for a nice sized table runner.

What you will need

Here is a list of the basic tools you will use when making this table runner.

Equipment / Tools

• Sewing machine
• Scissors or rotary cutter
• Iron and ironing board
• Quilting rulers
• Schmetz 80/12 Needles
• Pins

Materials

• 3/4 yard cream fabric for blocks, sashing, borders and binding
• 4 different batik fat quarters – Light Pink, Pink, Dark Pink, Purple
• Backing – 1½ yards
• Thread
• Batting

Heart Table Runner tutorial

16″ x 47″

I broke the cutting down in case you don’t want to make the flying geese border. First is the cutting for the heart blocks, below you’ll find the cutting directions for the flying geese border.

Cutting the blocks first

Each 8½-unfinished block uses – six 2 7/8-inch squares cream, two 2½-inch squares cream, six 2 7/8-inch squares assorted batiks, and two 2½-inch square of the batiks

There are four blocks so cut the following:

• Cream – cut 24 – 2 7/8-inch squares
• Cream – cut 8 – 2½-inch squares
• Assorted Batiks -cut 24 – 2 7/8-inch squares
• Assorted Batiks – cut 8 – 2½-inch squares

Making the HST blocks

I prefer to cut my half square triangles with my AccuQuilt dies but if you don’t have them, this is how to make your blocks.

• Place the cream 2 7/8-inch square on top of the batik 2 7/8-inch square
• Mark a line diagonally down the center and stitch ¼-inch on both sides
• Cut on the centerline, press to the batik fabric.
• Your half square triangle blocks should measure 2½-inches square.

Lay your pieces out as shown below, make 2 of each block. Press toward the dark fabric if possible or press seam allowances open.

Use a ¼” seam allowance.

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Add the Sashing

Sashing – Cream – cut 3 – 2 ½″ x 8 ½″ strips for the sashing. The sashing is bigger than what I did on the Heart baby quilt.

Add the sashing between the blocks

Add first border

Now it is time to add the cream border. Take the time to measure your piece to make sure the borders will fit. Sometimes you might have to add a bit or substract a bit.

• Cut two 2½-inch by 38½-inch strips of cream and sew to the top and bottom of the table runner
• Cut two 2½-inch by 12½-inch strips of cream and sew to the sides

If you would like to stop here, you would have a table runner that is approximately 12½” x 40½”.

Flying Geese Border

I still had plenty of half square triangle blocks left so I decided to add a flying geese border.

Cutting the flying geese border – it is made with the same size of half square triangles.

• Cream – cut 28 – 2 7/8-inch squares
• Assorted Batiks -cut 28 – 2 7/8-inch squares

Make the squares into half square triangles and then sew them together as shown below.

• Sew the sides to the table runner first
• Cut 2 – 2½-inch cream squares – sub-cut to 1¼-inch x 2½-inch, add these to the ends of your top and bottom flying geese sections
• Pin the flying geese border matching the center sashing strip with the middle of the sixth flying geese.

Finishing

Add your backing and batting and quilt. I did a simple meandering free-motion just on the cream pieces and nothing on the batiks.

Cut three 2½-inch by the width of fabric strips for your binding and use this tutorial for machine binding.

I tried to get a picture of Mr. Mickey by the table runner but it didn’t work out so well.

The table runner looks pretty good by my red vintage Christmas truck!

If you are thinking about buying the AccuQuilter cutter, the GO! Big Boundless Starter Pack includes the 8-inch Qube set that has the 2½-inch unfinished HST and square die plus other dies. Otherwise, you can buy the 8-inch Mix & Match Qube set alone.

Be sure and look at the Heart Baby quilt tutorial also.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing.

Purchase an ad-free printable version of the Heart Baby Quilt and Heart table runner tutorial in my shop. The photos have been reduced in size and the tutorial is 6 pages long.