Friendship Patchwork Tablecloth

I made this patchwork tablecloth over the weekend. It was a BIG project, but I'm so happy with the outcome! I call this my Friendship Patchwork Tablecloth because so many friends had a role to play (though they might not know it).

First, Sweetcakes made the fabulous, amazing, soulful orange patchwork tablecloth for me. It's been my favorite ever since, and I've longed to try it. I've never done patchwork before, so I was a bit anxious about giving it a try.

Well, then RoxyRed gave me this teacup fabric. I've been waiting for months, trying to determine the perfect project for it. (The fabric I'm referencing is the one with the yellow flowers on it. If you look closely, you'll see there are two teacup fabrics in the mix.)

In the background, AZ tea lover has been gently nudging me to take a closer look at quilting. Quilting really intimidates me, so I decided to start with a patchwork project.

The ingredients: I had a patchwork tablecloth that I loved, I had this gorgeous fabric that needed a project, and I had this desire to try patchwork. So I dove in.

The pattern is from the great book, Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson and photos by Anna Williams. Martha Stewart featured the book and you can find the pattern, for free, here.

I did a few things differently than the pattern.

• First, my table isn't that big, so I reduced the measurements. Thankfully, I could use the one Sweetcakes made as an example.
  
• Second, I skipped the rickrack. Don't misunderstand - I LOVE rickrack. It's just that after all the piecing and sewing, I was DONE. Makes me appreciate the orange one even more, if that's possible.
  
• Third, I didn't use a half and half pattern. The fabric I chose as my dominant one has a lot of white in the background. The DH came to look at my creation, before I sewed the pieced columns together, and said..."Hmmm, that's a lot of white!" He has a great eye and I agreed, so I cut that half in half...now I had four alternating columns, and I liked it better. The white blended.
  
• Fourth, I haven't made the napkins (yet). But I will!

I'm looking forward to showing off the tablecloth at my She's CrafTEA! event this coming Saturday. In fact, I've been inspired by the tablecloth to go with a blue-and-white china theme. Here, you can see me testing out a few pieces.

To lead up to the She's CrafTEA! party, I'll be featuring crafty things all week. Enjoy!