WIP Wednesday : WIP's on Parade

Alternate post titles: "Quilts with Feet", or "Sexy Man-ankles". Any would be appropriate!

So the kids were at Camp Grandma up in NYC last week and, per usual, I took the week off of work. Early in the week, Mrs. QD and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Blowing Rock, up in the North Carolina mountains. But for the latter part of the week, she began her PhD program and I was left to my lonesome.

What's a quilting dad to do?

It is so rare that I enjoy several consecutive uninterrupted hours of sewing that I decided I needed to tackle some of my bigger projects. Namely, the (embarrassingly high) stack of blocks that all need to be assembled into quilt tops. You know all of the quilting bees that I participate in? Well, I'm ashamed to admit that I had yet to sew together a single quilt top from the bee blocks I'd received.

I was a man on a mission. And between Wednesday and Sunday I sewed together 5 -- count 'em, 5 -- quilt tops. I have no idea when I'll be able to get them quilted, but no matter for now. I am just so glad to have made a dent in the WIP pile.

Wanna see 'em? I thought so! And heeeeeeeere we go ...

First up were these blocks, originally sewn up for a friend's wedding gift 2 years ago, made from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern line.

Next up were another set of blocks that I sewed together a LONG time ago ... as in, this was one of the first set of quilt blocks that I ever made. They're made from some of my favorite Fresh Cut prints by Heather Bailey, and the pattern is the popular Turning Twenty. This one actually still needs its final border.

Then I moved on to my growing pile of quilting bee blocks made for me by my many talented Flickr friends. I started with my original virtual quilting bee, the SewConnected group that I started back in September 2008.

I absolutely LOVE this quilt. It's just so ... happy. It features so many of my favorite fabrics, including Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, Farmer's Market by Sandi Henderson, and Flutterby ladybugs by Tula Pink. They all go so well together.

Why did I wait so long to put this together??

By this point I was on a roll, and I was so excited to move on to my SewConnected 2 quilt. I had my SC2 friends make me mini improv houses, and boy did they deliver. I opted to use a light grey (Kona Ash) instead of white as my neutral, and I'm so glad that I did. I know I am going to LOVE this quilt for years to come.

I rounded out the weekend with my SewConnected 3 quilt, made from Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line. I asked for quarter log cabin blocks and love the way all of the prints are mixed up together. I think this line has cemented its place as one of my all-time favorites.

And yes, those are my sexy mankles (man-ankles) in the photo above! : )

So there they are -- 5 quilt tops in 5 days. I can add them to my stack of tops ready to be quilted, which was already stacked 4 high. Oh, what's that? You want to see them, too? OK, your wish is my command!

Here's a colorful quilt top made from a line of fabric called "Mendhi" by Bill Kerr & Weeks Ringle of FunQuilts from a few years back. The pattern is the free Brick Path quilt by Amy Butler.

This is another top made from some Amy Butler prints -- this time, her Lotus line. The pattern is called "Flip a Coin" and was featured in one of the (or even the?) very first issues of Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts magazine.

Here's a pretty basic (i.e. no pattern) HST / pinwheel quilt made from a charm pack of Look & Learn by American Jane and bordered with some of my favorite ruler fabric:

I got a lot of great feedback on this next quilt when I first started blogging. And here it sits, still unfinished. It's another Turning Twenty quilt, this time using some wonderful Prints Charming fabrics.

So some of my unifinished stacks of blocks have turned into unfinished quilt tops. But that's OK, right? One step at a time ...

I still have a bunch more to work on, including my Cottage Quilting Bee, Bee Inspired, Buzz Cuts, and {Bee} Imaginative blocks.

Any thoughts or suggestions on backing, binding, or quilting designs for any of these? I'd love to hear them!