Easter Zig Zag Table Runner

It's an Easter miracle that I finished this table runner in time for our holiday brunch!  I started making this in January so I should have had plenty of time to get it done but as so often happens I finished the top and let it linger.  Somehow Easter snuck up on me and it was still sitting there without a back waiting to be quilted.  The realization that Easter was this Sunday pushed me in to action so Wednesday I tracked down more white linen for the backing, sew basted it, and started quilting all those zigzags.  I got half way across the center section and realized it was a big wonky mess.  Linen is so soft and I used Dream Orient bamboo batting which also has a lot of drape... the result was like trying to quilt a wet noodle.  Too make matters worse, I had used masking tape to mark the zigzags and along the way they shifted.  I slept on it and in the morning it was still a complete disaster!  Friday morning I was whining to the amazing Aimee of Salt Marsh Designs and she had the brilliant suggestion to spray baste it to give it some stiffness.  I get all my best ideas from her: )  Anyway, I ripped out 2 days worth of work and started over.  The spray baste gave it some heft and I decided to make a paper zigzag template which I taped down with each row to keep my zigzags consistent.  Suddenly I was on a roll and I made it all the way across the center section when another miracle occurred... 

my zigzags matched up exactly with the patchwork.  I was worried I'd have to fudge the spacing to make the rows fit when I got to the other side.  The spray baste would have let me adjust my top but it was totally unnecessary, a perfect fit!  As luck would have it, Saturday I found myself with a few extra hours between decorating eggs with the kids and our dinner reservations so I finished quilting the patchwork zigzags.  Since I actually do follow my own advice I'd already made my binding so I squared up my top and sewed on the binding with enough time to dress for dinner.

Another miracle, I had just enough binding.  I'd like to say I planned it this way but really I just got lucky!  So after dinner I watched a movie and tacked my binding and was ready for Easter.  I'm totally loving how this came out and know it will decorate my table for years to come: )