Amy Walsh's "Get in Line" pattern

A few posts ago, I showed four tops in progress on my design wall.  I just finished one of these, a version of Amy Walsh's table runner pattern, "Get in Line," recently published in American Patchwork & Quilting, June 2012.  Amy's version was in silk, a range of blue and green solids--stunning.  My version is a gift for a nursing home resident, for her bedside table, so cotton was definitely in order.  The genius of Amy's pattern is that some of the strips have one fabric only, some two fabrics, and some three.  She suggests improvising size of the portions and placement of the one-piece strips, which I did, but the pattern also includes precise measurements for those who prefer that.  Amy's version used straight-line quilting; I decided to go with a simple (and easy) wavy line in each 1" strip. 

Added 5-21-12:  Here's a photo of Amy's from the magazine:

More patterns from Amy and others can be found at the pattern company she owns with Janine Burke, Blue Underground. 

If I had been making this for myself, I probably would have used a wider range of color, maybe using small bits of orange/rust.  But the friend I made this for really loves blue.  I brought a bunch of fabric scraps to the nursing home a month or so ago, and she chose the strips she liked.  All blue!  She let me sneak in the one fabric that has a little red in it also, but that was it.

I'm happy with how the runner looks in her room--definitely perks it up.

Here's a detail, showing the machine binding I did, with a zigzag stitch.  I've since done some trials with straight-stitching, and have found a method combining tips from a variety of sources that I think will work.  More on that in another post sometime.