Postcard from Sweden sQALrrel

I started the New Year off with having no set plans or projects; just to continue participating in the 2021/22 Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and the yearly mmm Quilts Celebrating a Famous Canadian Birthday QAL which usuallly starts in April. Apparently now, I’m participating in two of Sandra’s QAL this year having just finished my Postcard from Sweden quilt. This one was really done under the auspices of a sQALrrel lead by madammmenabler my latest name for you know who.

I had just finished my flimsy for January’s CT UFO Challenge and had a few days to make another Brown Bear quilt for the darling Granddaughter before we left for the GP House, but what did my wondering eyes happened to see on IG on January 10th that Sandra was hosting another Postcard from Sweden QAL starting on January 16th. For a brief minute, I sort of shrugged it off having participated in the first QAL and thinking I didn’t need another one since I’m not a big fan of making quilts with solid color fabric. (You can see and read the details from the first PFS quilt Here.) But then my mind got to thinking of other possibilities this quilt could be made with like, Grunge or other tone on tone fabrics which I’ve amassed during the last months of 2021 but then realized that the latest Postcard from Sweden (PFS) quilt would be so interesting in Marcia Derse fabrics which I’ve been collecting for over ten years. I still had the pattern, fabric cards I made of the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons and Peppered Cottons used for the first PFS quilt and the extra HSTs leftover which came in handy so rather than waiting to start on the official start date, I wanted to start right away to see if my idea of using prints would work. 

The color cards helped in in choosing which Marcia Derse fabrics were similar to the Shot Cotton/Peppered Cotton used before and I did not limit my selection to just solids but also included prints which I thought would add an interesting look to my second PFS quilt. (I might add thatI did this when I should have been working on the Brown Bear II Quilt of which I’m saying I took a brief “Paws”.) The original PFS quilt used 36 different fabrics but for PFS II I used 46 different fabrics since there were some Marcia Derse fabrics which I didn’t have enough of and used Shot and Peppered cotton HST leftovers of the same color number and mixed it with that. I did have to resort using one Lonni Rossi print for the one color I still didn’t have enough so there is one color number which uses three different prints which makes PFS II so interesting.

Even though the QAL did not officially start until January 16th, my blocks were finished by the 13th, right before leaving for the GP House with the Brown Bear II quilt in tow. I made my blocks one at a time to make sure the correct fabric was in the right place and the seams were pressed in the right direction. I normally walk over to the ironing board which is a few feet away to press but decided to purchase a TV tray to make an ironing station next to  my sewing machine in order to keep my blocks straight and to save time—what a difference.

Sandra “egg-couraged” me by saying that my PFS quilt would probably be finished by the 18th but only the flimsy was. It could have been done if we didn’t go to the GP House and although it would have been tempting to stay home it wasn’t enough for me to give up seeing my darling Granddaughter even though she had a cold/cough. Fortunately, we returned home with our health in check and the PFS II quilt was a finally finished on the 20th.

Like the first PFS Quilt, machine quilting was done with wavey lines, 1” apart and a CT Essential Thread in Magenta was used. While sewing this quilt, I was worried about the binding since I knew I did not have any yardage of a Marcia Derse fabric I could used but fortunately last year I inadvertently ordered a yard of V&Company ombré woven fabric in Magenta which worked well with this quilt.

One of the reasons why I participate in a QAL is that I already have the fabric in my stash and I definitely had the backing which is a fun floral print which I purchased over twenty years ago and has always been on my mind as to what and when I was ever going to use it. Did you notice the Magenta background? Lots of serendipity in the making of PFS II which I am naming this quilt Postcards from Whidbey Island which is where Marcia Derse lives. I’m sure Kaffe Fassett, Pepper Cory and Lonni Rossi would be welcomed to visit.

I thought I include some photos of the two quilts together so you can see how different but somewhat alike they look. Also, I should mention that only indoor photos were taken since we’re experiencing some really cold weather and thought the Master Quilt Holder would appreciate not having to stand outside and squatting since these quilts are only 60” long. Before I wrote this post, I did ask Sandra if it was okay for me to show my PFS II now and her reply was there are no quilting police in this QAL which is understandable when she knows there’s alway a QAL Rebel or as I put it now, someone who does not QAL well with others, participating.

Just to keep my 2022 productivity straight, Brown Bear II Quilt is my first Finally Finished and Postcards from Whidbey Island Quilt is my second Finally Finished. BTW, Brown Bear II was not as warmly received as the first one by the darling Granddaughter and her father thinks it’s because she’s moved on to the Hungry Caterpillar of which some of those prints are in this quilt. I’m hoping my January Quilt for the CT UFO Challenge will be finished in time but one of the reasons why I worked on the PFS II quilt is because I’m waiting for the white batting needed which is late due to some shipping problems. Meanwhile, there are more projects for me to work on……..

Linking up with:My Quilt Infatuation/NTT