Table Toppers: Many Designs from One Pattern

Sometimes just a small quilt can make a big impression on the tables in your home.  The fabric for these really quick and easy table toppers is from Windham fabrics in the Echo collection.

I've been playing around with these for awhile now and just finished them today. They are a great addition to my dining table and the coffee table.

I purchased the fabric from my favorite little shop in Windham NY: The Patchwork Co.  I picked up the pattern there also.  The pattern features 5 different designs, a bargain for the price. 

As I finished piecing the fabric I used a spray adhesive to  adhere it to the binding and backing. 

With the leftover fabric (lots of it) I made many coasters and hot plate mats. You can never have enough of these, right? 

 Here is one of the designs of the table topper.  Notice the binding on this: a scrappy binding that I have come to love. I've used this type of binding on a few quilts now and I find it's a great way to use up extra fabric.

And take a look at the back. I didn't have a big enough piece of fabric so I decided to piece different fabrics together . I like it! Do you? 

Below are just some photos of the table toppers in various settings. 

 So what do you think of these two designs? Which do you like better?

Lessons Learned:

1. Don't be afraid to try the scrappy way of binding. I find it gives an interesting look to your quilt projects.

2. I used these smaller quilts to practice my free motion quilting. The more I do the better I get.

Thanks for reading my blog today.

Summer Poppies - Sold

This is my first jelly roll quilt. The fabric is from Joel Dewberry's Atrium Mint collection. I just love

the flowers and the hint of the "Arizona" feel of the fabric.

Below is the pile of 2.5 inch strips from the jelly roll. This quilt is very simple and goes together very fast. For a very easy tutorial, check out Jenny at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEJLnaZQOU. It took me a bit longer than Jenny to get these strips together, but the process was fairly easy.

Here in the northeast we didn't have much of a winter. Can you believe there were no snow days or even a delayed start to the day at school?  This quilt feels the  way the northeast felt this past winter: Cool, breezy and sunny.   Can you believe it was 75 degrees on Christmas Eve?  

Here is the front of the quilt a Work in Progress (WIP) .

I worked on this at Shirley's during the winter Saturday quilt days. Quilting on Saturday afternoons for  few hours make the winter somewhat bearable. It kind of speeds up those cold, dreary days of February and March. 

Here is the back of the quilt. Because I consider myself a beginner and  always a learner, Shirley helped me square these strips to add to the back. I first learned of varying the back of quilts by looking at  Kelly's quilts at  "My Quilt Infatuations ". She is very frugal and uses fabric in very creative ways on the backs of her quilts. 

Sometimes I think the backing is more interesting than the front. 

I wanted to make a statement on this quilt, not sure why, I thought  an applique of poppies might create a focal point of interest. 

After I cut the above design, I decided to layer some of the poppies from the printed fabric on top of  my original layer of applique. 

Although I liked the strips from the jelly roll, I liked this extra focal point on the quilt.  It would make a great quilt for a bed or a wall hanging;. I'm thinking, Arizona, California, or even in Florida homes. Any home really to get that easy breezy sunny summer feeling.

I've used pins on previous quilts I've made, but I realized that I like the clips used on the border even better. I just don't like getting pricked by pins when sewing the quilt. 

Here is an example of a quilt label. I love this one.  The yellow shows up so well against the teal color of the fabric. I wish I had a yellow or orange rick rack to replace the white.

I'm hoping this quilt will make a special gift for someone and allow them think of the fun and happiness that summer seems to bring for everyone.

Lesson learned:

1.  I love these colors and the opportunities the fabric gives to making appliques. Always look for more ideas in the fabrics you choose than just  for the quilt.
2. I need to try and get my quilts done and posted in a timely manner. February to July is just too long.


What are your thoughts? I would love to hear what you have to say.

Happy summer,


Summer Poppies Quilt is linked to: