Finish - A - Long

Congratulations to all the Finish-a-Long winners. I completed several of my goals, and then did not do a tally post, since it felt like a failure not to complete all of them. The reality for me is that external goals do not motivate me to create. Since my weekly work sometimes includes quilting on challenging quilts for others, my personal projects need to have a specific purpose or just be fun to work on. The completed projects not on my list during the time period were both satisfying and made me feel guilty. Sewing needs to be fun.

I'm working on a large applique wall hanging that is at times fun and challenging. I'm using Jane Sassaman's technique of interfacing the back of each block and machine stitching the fused pieces down. I used lightweight fusibles for both. I'm getting a bit of distortion as the large 20.5" blocks are stuffed into a small opening, but not as much as without the interfaced backgrounds. I did some testing of stitches on scraps but am being relaxed enough to make changes as I go.

I used my BSR - Bernina Stitch Regulator for the first time on the tiny hearts on each block - 36 dime-sized hearts per block. I did them first as they were more likely to fall off than the larger pieces. The stitching is messy, but they are secured. I explained it to my husband as being similar to learning to write with my left hand - pushing the fabric around as opposed to moving a longarm machine.

Jelly Roll Race, 50" x 63", quilted with butterflies


The Jelly Roll Race quilt is finished. I used a solid red for the binding, one of my go-to options when coordinating prints are not in my stash. Kona solids made a nice firm binding.

Ducky strips still needs binding and will be dark blue.

Two small string quilts are in the works, one blues and one pinks. I'm using some aged sew-in interfacing as foundations, as it gives strength to charity quilts. I'm stitching rectangles that will have solid strips at each side to square them up and also minimize bulk when sewing them together.