Rustic Trees

I woke this morning to the fragrance of our Christmas tree wafting through the house (nothing like it, is there?). It went up yesterday, but that's all - the plan is to start the decorating this weekend, a job that can sometimes take me 2 - 3 days. But it reminded me that there is another Holly Bazaar project (actually, two) that I have yet to share with you.

A small bundle of trees were left over from the Vintage Tree Farm throw that I made for my niece and her husband a couple of years ago which I had mused about putting together with two red and cream prints. They steeped sat on the corner of the cutting table all year until finally becoming the foundation for another runner for this year's bazaar. 

I envisioned a very simple, yet rustic design that could be used both as a holiday runner but also easily fit into a farmhouse decor year round, so adding a few spacers between each of three trees for each end of the runner was really all that I had to do. The border fabrics and check binding would really get a chance to shine.

I had a few scraps from the quilt to play with so I toyed with floating the trees with about an inch of the same background before they touched the border, but the runner was getting pretty wide so I opted not to do that. If I hadn't put the spacers in I it would have been a good option.

In the end it worked out well, a very simplified approach that reflected the style of the trees.

Don't you love it when your selvages talk to you?...M