Light Bulb moment

I have been doing a little clean up in my cave.  (I was looking for something.)  A Christmas table runner kept getting in my way.  (Insistent thing.)

Wednesday the Tuna Quilters met (Kathy, cousin: Betty, friend, and I).  We meet once a month for lunch and sharing.  Kathy has begun a new quilt and was showing how she used stabilizer to make the leaves that she will applique on her quilt.

A light bulb went off in my mind.  (It is so dim in there at times.)

A while ago, long ago, I began the table runner.  It is a free pattern, Gather 'Round from McCall's Quilting Nov/Dec 2016.  

The stabilizer was used to make my circles and then they were machine stitched onto the placemats.  The sticky side was to the backside of the material.  circles pinned to the runner material.  It did not stitch nicely, tiny wrinkles.  I was not happy and put it aside in frustration.  Since then, the circles were taken off and the runner has kept showing up. 

Here are the old circles.  The stabilizer will be taken off and then they will be cut down into 2.5-inch squares.

Well, after seeing what Kathy was doing the light bulb was brighter.  I understood what needed to be done.  

A lightweight fusible stabilizer was used, fusible side to the right side of the fabric.  Circle drawn and the two layers stitched together following the circle line.  Trimmed, turned right side out through a cut opening in the stabilizer, edges pushed out and then pressed on an applique pressing sheet.  The fusible side does not stick.

They were then ironed on the cleaned-up runner center and all but one has been hand stitched on.  (There was football last night.  It was the last of the pre-season.  New England's season starts on 7 September.)  This should be all put together as a flimsy this week and hopefully father than that.

Thank you, Kathy, for sharing.  

Linking to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Enjoy your threads today.