3 tops at the quilter

I almost forgot about these... After vacation, I also spent time making backings for three quits. Tell me this tho...how come I can make a top in a day but a back takes 5 times longer???!! Goes to show how fast you can get something done when you like what you're doing... Anyway, here's the three tops previously posted that are now with the talented Wendy Knight for quilting.

Black/white/red: This is a top that I made up. I had used a black and white check fabric for something and I had these strips leftover with what I thought was a cool design...

I love the black and white quilts with a pop of color, so I added some red to this one.

Park Avenue Happy Quilter QAL: This was an online quilt along that I saw the quilt tops online and loved how they turned out. So I printed the pattern and used some Park Avenue charm packs I had AND I then bought some yardage. Here's the results

OK, the picture only shows quarter of the results...but still. I'm waiting until it comes back and then I'm going to buy more yardage for the binding. Yep, I made the mistake of using up all of the scraps for the backing and now I have maybe a 5 inch square left of two fabrics. Sigh, I have to buy more fabrics...darn!!

White & scrappy: I have to find out if I made this one up or saw it somewhere...I just don't remember as I pieced it so long ago:

Again, it's made of pre-cut 2.5 inch squares. I loved it and didn't feel like it needed a border to finish it. I love quilts with white backgrounds. I think they look so fresh!

Now, I'm caught up!! Well, at least online.

Lots of projects

Wow, it's been over a month since my last post. It's been a busy month! I had a couple of projects to finish before vacation. Then went on a nearly two week vacation with my family. I came back to home/work and a very busy schedule. I bought a ton of cute kits on vacation...and had some commitments to get done before doing "fun" sewing. I did get a quilt back from the quilter and bound during the first week back. Then I made a baby quilt (baby shower is tomorrow) in about 2 weeks start to finish. Then I sewed two runners and a quilt top. Let's get to some pictures of all of my projects...

I call this "4-patch". It's really called Knickerbocker Glory from the book Jelly Roll Inspirations by Pam and Nicky Lintott:

and yep, I made so many blocks, I have enough to make another quilt. I just have to decide what the outer fabric will be and get that ironed and cut... I love these series of books. I've made a couple of quilts from this book and have a couple more of their books to work from...

Baby quilt: this is based on a bedding group the proud, happy grandmother showed me. I have a set of applique/embroidery zoo animals from Embroidery Library that are really, really cute and I've used them a ton. This time, I only used the one animal:

Monkeys!! The back of this one was made making a "disappearing 9-patch" block. It was super easy! I think I did the back in about 3 hours total... It's worth a photo also:

I like to bind baby quilts with the satin blanket binding. It's harder to get on the quilt, but I love the finished look and feel. My kids loved satin borders on their blankets when they were young.

This runner was made from a fabric kit I picked up in MN during vacation. The pattern is from the book Sizzlin' Sixties by Heather Mulder Peterson/Anka's Treasures:

I loved everything about this! The kit is 2010 MN quilt run fabric kitted by The Quilt Parlour Quilt Shop in Jenkins, MN. I pre-paid for a couple of yards of material from this year's run at the same time as the run starts this Friday...almost a month after we were there...

I also bought the border fabric for this runner. I have the pattern (previous post - Easy Striped Table Runner from The Quilt Company). My cousin liked the fabric so I'm making a runner for his table as a thank you for hosting us. Here's the runner so far (top only):

I did buy enough of this to make myself one too. I love this pattern! It's very easy. I love this fabric too! It's even better in person!

Lastly, I made this quilt top:

It's the same quilt as one that I made and donated to a friend's silent auction to benefit her daughter's high school choir. I loved this quilt. The pattern is Tropical Dreams and was in the February 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (one of my favorite magazines). I've been making 2.5 inch squares out of scraps and this quilt was made just with those scraps...plus the black marble background. I still have TONS of squares so I'm still looking for more patterns. The cool thing is ...since I had the squares pre-cut, this quilt was started Sunday afternoon and I finished it tonight (Monday)...and I only did an hours worth of work today!! I did stop at the 2.5 inch border as I like how that finishes this version off vs the additional border in the pattern. At this size, I can use it on my round table at work...

Now back to sewing. So much to do, so little time...