A Pair of Projects With Candles

The warm light of glowing candles creates feelings of home, comfort, and love. I'm sure that's why candles are symbolic of both Christmas and romantic love. I find myself particularly drawn to them as the holiday season approaches. I had planned to make a candle mug rug this year, but the table runner absolutely insisted on getting itself made at the same time. I'm so glad it did. I had the perfect batiks for the table runner in my stash, and this pair of patterns turned out to be among my all time favorites.

"Candle" mug rug.

"Candlelight" table runner.

I loved using white for candles, but the darker background fabrics were showing through on both projects. The easiest solution was to line each candle with a layer of lightweight muslin. I used fusible web between the muslin and the main white fabric to hold the two together. Then I added another layer of fusible web to the back of the muslin. It does make for a stiffer piece, so I wouldn't want to double the layers like this on a lap quilt or a bed quilt.

Quilting doesn't show up very much on the the background fabric in the table runner, so I had a perfect opportunity to practice some FMQ. Feathers and swirls went smoothly, but pebbles are beyond me! No matter how many pebbles I stitch or what size I make them, they come out disconnected and less than round. I'll keep plugging away though. I love beautifully stitched pebbles, and I've never been able to resist a challenge.

I think the candles may be my last Christmas patterns for the year. There are loads of other patterns begging to be made, but even those will wait a week or so.

Next week I'll be cooking and doing some essential fall housecleaning. A person can only squeeze so many hours from a day.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

And, Happy Stitching!