Last January Finish

January has been a very good month!  The finishes have been small but mighty in lifting the spirits. Today I completed all the remaining quilting on my version of last summer's Rainbow Rose Quiltalong - likely the last of the participants to do so, but hey, a finish is a finish however long it takes, right?

This little project finished at about 46 inches square and ended up being both a learning project for me as well as a teaching quilt of sorts for the newbie quilters in our little quilt ministry, although it didn't start out that way.  First, I had planned to finish it last summer - ha!  A few bumps along the road, and some very dear grandbaby quilts took my attention for most of the fall, so here we are in the bleak midwinter with this cheerful interlude.

I had no idea at the beginning how this was going to be quilted - a rather traditional Carpenters Wheel block variation done up in decidedly modern rainbow-y fabrics.  So I ditch quilted all the block seams and the peach stop border.  Since I hadn't practiced any free-motion feathers in a long time, this seemed like a good place to practice those, and so I did, in all the setting triangles and corners, after first drawing a guide line for a spineless version of endless feathers.

This was where I first ran into issues with the quilting.  A quick look at the back tells the story:

All those sweet innocent looking blocks I incorporated into the back gave me real fits as I began quilting the feathers, since my free-motion foot refused to ride over the bulky seam intersections. Someone please remind me if I ever say I'm including small blocks on the back of a quilt again!

That said, I began looking for other options for quilting the outer borders.  Since I've been experiencing a lot more shoulder and neck pain while free-motion quilting but considerably less when quilting with the even-feed foot, I decided to attempt a gentle curved continuous line stencil for the outer border using that foot.  Also, most of the ladies in our quilt ministry group have machines that are reluctant to do any type of free-motion quilting, so if this experiment was a success I could also use it as a teaching quilt to show them some additional options for using their walking foot feature.  So, here are the results of this experiment, which turned out surprisingly well I think.

Beginning the outer border

A closer look at the even-feed foot stitched borders.

All the photos in this post were taken with the stencil markings remaining, so our quilting group can better see the process and especially the difficulties encountered while attempting the sharper curves in the swag inner border design. Lots of little divits here where the machine wanted to lurch inward as I shifted the sandwich around the tighter curves. And I definitely need to learn more about stencil marking and fitting the stencil to the space available. This was definitely a good learning experience, and I'm pleased to find another way to machine quilt that isn't quite as hurtful to aching joints and shoulders.

Though the Carpenters Wheel block pieces should have additional quilting beyond the ditch quilting already done, I'm reluctant to do anything more because of the issues with the excess bulk of the block seams on the back.  This little quilt was originally destined to become a summer table topper, though the youngest granddaughter has already attempted to claim it - twice!  Eventually dear girl, eventually!  That child has never seen a quilt she didn't want, and I love it!

Sunshine and shadow on an otherwise snowy day

And that wraps up January.  Looking ahead I'm not seeing any finishes in the near future since nearly all my remaining projects will be bed-size and mostly hand quilted.  Though I'm equally sure that some other little opportunities will beckon before long.  A quilter's life is never dull, is it?

Rainbow Rose Quiltalong

A little late arriving, as the Rainbow Rose Quiltalong is well into Week 3 over at the Modern Quilters Ireland blog!   I had seen a post about the QAL a couple weeks ago, and then a sweet vintage Jolly Bar arrived in the mail from Lara at BuzzinBumble.  It sat on the ironing board waiting to be stitched into Something Special, until Lara's latest post reminded me of the Rainbow Rose quiltalong.

So, what is a mostly traditional quilter like myself doing over at Modern Quilters Ireland blog anyway?  Well, when I looked at the pattern - lo and behold, it's a variation of a traditional Carpenter's Wheel block (Brackman 3811b), the Jolly Bar fabrics are vintage reproductions, and it looked perfect for what I hoped to make from these fabrics - a summer table-topper. And, after all I am 25% Irish!  Why not?

Yesterday saw the completion of Week 2's instructions and much of Week 3, which I finished stitching late this afternoon.   Here is Week 2:

And Week 3:

The camera always sees better than my eye.  Here's what I saw when I first focused on the corners for Week 3:

Oops!

After a little "frog stitching" and a few minutes later:

Ah, much better!

My "rainbow" is a bit lacking as the colorways of the Vintage Picnic fabric line do not include yellow, and my fabric stash is not plentiful in traditional rainbow hues either.  But I'm happy with where this project is headed and hope to have it completed very soon for our summer dining room table.  

Linking up with the Modern Quilters Ireland blog.