Quilt Tops Become Finished Quilts

A few months ago as I was preparing for my baby's arrival, I was really getting annoyed with all the projects in my sewing space that were in various stages of incompletion. I think it was part of my nesting phase. So, once the baby was born, I set out to turn all the quilt tops I had laying around into finished quilts. I finally finished the last one just before Christmas (which was sitting around without binding for several weeks).

First up is the zigzag quilt I made for one of my sisters. I started it some time in 2010, finished the top in July, and finished the quilt in November (?) so I could finally give it to her for Christmas. I used a charm pack of Blush by Basic Grey, a charm pack of Bella snow, and some Blush fat quarters. I densely quilted the white zigzags with free motion meandering loops, regular loops in the first border, and then large meandering loops in the outer border.



As I was trying to a) finish these quilts as fast as possible and b) use fabric from my stash, I used a single print from the Panache line (can't remember the designer). It was a hair too small to cover the whole back so I added a little strip of some green solid. The back doesn't look as nice as I would have preferred, but it works.



Next up is the quilt that I started way back in 2007 (my first quilt block ever!). I finished this top sometime in July too and decided to finish it up to give to one of my nieces for Christmas. With the exception of the solid blue (a Kona cotton), all the fabrics came from Hancocks and Joanns. I bought them all several years ago when I didn't think fabric quality mattered. You can really feel the difference when you compare this quilt to another made from quilt-shop quality fabrics.



I alternated between straight lines one-inch apart and meandering loops for the quilting on this one.



This one didn't get finished before my baby was born like I wanted it to, but we've been able to get good use out of it since I finished it. It makes me happy to see my sweet baby with it.



I quilted loops in the white sections and then flowers, swirls, and snails in the Freebird sections. I used a brown and cream dot from the Freebird line for the binding.



My first quilt-along, in 2010, was for a jellyroll sampler. The mister's aunt is like another grandma to my kids so I wanted to finish this quilt up so I could give it to her for Christmas. It was well-received as she now considers herself part of the family. =)



I quilted meandering loops in a red thread for this one and really like the contrast it adds to the quilt. The binding is smaller than what I normally do, so I struggled a bit with it. But, I wanted to use the leftover jellyroll strips, which are 2.5 inches. My usual binding width is 3.25, which I'm much more comfortable working with.



Next up is my final quilt of 2011. I love it so much that I almost had a hard time giving it away. Good thing I love my dad so much.