Winter-y Runner (in Progress)

My initial goal was to make something that would turn my runner into a dual holiday/season runner, and since turkeys and wheat (the Thanksgiving options) simply didn't appeal, I decided to jump straight into the deep winter holidays with these two fabrics:

I only had a half-yard of the candy and a yard of the trees, so instead of running a pattern throughout the length of the runner, I wanted a pattern of quilt block work in the center with larger fields of the trees on either end.

For the center, I went with the classic disappearing four patch, starting with four 6.5 inch squares.

The ending result is very busy - but I love it. And since this is showing just about the entire height of the runner (about 23 inches), I think it's appearing a little more busy than it really is... maybe...

Either end does have a larger field comprised mostly of the tree fabric:

You might notice a little extra fabric there? That's exactly how 'short' I was from making it work with just the pieces I purchased. So frustrating! But rather than going back to the store for that scant amount of fabric, I took apart the other fields and added a coordinating patch of blue on the other end, which helped tie it in a little better. I think.

Getting a picture of the whole piece was difficult - but I did my best.

You can see both blue/teal patches (which have a bit of gold metalic print on them). I think this also shows that it really isn't quite as incredibly busy as it could be if the disappearing four patch continued over a larger space with these two rather busy prints...

It isn't quite what I envisioned turning out when I started, but I'm very happy with it so far.

I'm not worried about basting the two pieces together, but I am a little concerned what I'll do for quilting that will work on both halves. Once again, I really wish I had a machine that would allow me to work without feed dogs, but I have yet to find a way to make that work over here. Guess I know what I'll be trying again next time I have a few minutes!