Pancake Quilt Table Runner

I'm planning on sewing a quilted afghan for a spring graduation present. Since it's a pattern I haven't done before I thought I should do some sort of sampling. So, into my stash I went and pulled out two great fabrics to make a table runner.

I used the instruction booklet and plexiglass template for Circle Magic from Missouri Star Quilt Co. I first saw this quilt on LuAnn Kessi's blog, I learned of her when my friend Janette attended her Permission to Play classes while she was fighting a losing battle with cancer. Luann has a great blog on quilting, dyeing, surface design and many other crafts. 

Here are the two fabrics I picked out from my way too big fabric stash. I cut 12 circles of each, which were then backed with iron on interfacing. I also cut 12 squares of cotton quilt batting.

Here I'm pinning everything readying it for sewing. Of course, you know what comes next, turning all those circles - argh but not too bad for 12 of them. Not sure how it will be when I have to turn 70 of them for the afghan......will definitely spread that chore out and work on it here and there.

Here are my circles ready to stitch an X in the middle and then the 2 on the right are already sewn together. The beauty of this pattern is that it's all done once the circles are sewn together, the backing for the quilt is the back side of the circle - no quilting and binding like traditional quilts.

And here's the completed table runner - I love it and it will look great on our dining room table. It was a good learning project and I can see where I can improve for the afghan project. I'm anxious to start on it but I need to buy more interfacing.........I bought medium weight for the afghan but I think lightweight is better. I can start cutting out all the circles and batting. I'll be using 12 different coordinating fabrics for the afghan.