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!

WIP Wednesday

OK, folks ... you heard it here first. I am officially on a self-imposed mini quilt hiatus.

As you all know (and many have commented! : ), I've been on a bit of a mini quilt bender for the past year or so. I wouldn't have done it any differently -- I really credit all of those swaps with helping me to learn both basic and new techniques, build my confidence (thanks to all of the help and support of fellow swapees), and meet a whole bunch of really, really great people -- but it's time to face facts.

I have a whole slew of larger projects in various stages of completion. And I've been avoiding basting, quilting, and binding full-sized quilts. I've got to start clearing some of these projects out!

I believe I've seen "WIP Wednesday" posts around the blogiverse and thought it would be a great way to track my progress on these projects ... and to keep me honest! My WIP Wednesday posts will be devoted to my larger quilts only.

First up, do any of you remember my very first Doll Quilt Swap? Well, as soon as I finished up that little quilt I decided to use the remainder of my "Wee Play" charm pack to make a larger sized version of it. I've had the middle (pinwheel) part of this quilt done for, oh, almost a year now. All I had to do was add the two borders. Why did it take me so long??


In retrospect, I wish I had made the inner border a bit thinner.

Placement
Another quilt top done. Moved to the "to be quilted" pile.

Up next, piecing this Amy Butler "Midwest Modern" quilt. I bought these fabrics and picked the pattern to make as a wedding gift for an MBA classmate's August wedding. Ummm, no ... not next month. August 2008. Yes, last year. Does Miss Manners still give us 12 months to give a wedding gift??


Blocks are done. Layout is final. Now I just have to piece it all together.

I will say this about mini quilts -- they spoil you rotten. The thought of piecing together 63 blocks -- when I'm used to more like 9 -- is numbing my brain. I just have to soldier on ...


My goal is to have this top pieced by next week's WIP Wednesday.

Finally, my quilt for Dana's Old Red Barn Company quilt-along. Here are all of the strips, cut and ready to go:


I would say I am about halfway done with piecing the strip sets ... and what I've pieced has already been cut into blocks. I still have a bunch more strip sets to sew together. Maybe I'll shoot for July 22nd to show this one off?

(P.S. Not sure what happened here, but the pictures below are TERRIBLE -- those are not the colors of these blocks AT ALL!)


And then the next few projects in the hopper for WIP Wednesday:
- Remember this? My Full Moon Forest quilt that I made as part of Amanda Jean's quilt-along (embarassingly, I haven't touched this one since October 2008).
- My Amy Butler quilt with blocks from my Craftster group.
- My SewConnected, Buzz Cuts, and Cottage Quilting Bee quilts ... some straggler blocks are still rolling in.
- ... and some others that I can't think of right now.

P.S. I reserve the right to change my mind and break the hiatus any time I want!! ; )