CT Dirty Dozen Challenge #12 March-Memory Lane

This is my second post for this week which I am posting another finish for the Country Threads 2021/22 Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and this quilt is for March. I am beyond happy and relieved with this quilt for several reasons but mainly because this means I am now all caught up with the UFO Challenge having fallen behind since the beginning of the year. I am so glad there are thirty-one days in March since it was enough days for me to finish the January, February and now March with just hours to spare. I thought my March Quilt would be nothing to post about being that these fabrics are so yesterday but it turns out I needed to post about it just for the record or for the “memories.” Sorry for the photos taken indoor, but we’re having another cloudy and rainy day.

I started Memory Lane after seeing this quilt in the APQ Quilt Sampler Fall/Winter 2016 magazine and fell in love with the pattern most likely because I had just the right fabrics in my stash, especially the yellow print which I may have bought during my Quilt Shop days. I wish I could remember which fabric line it was from but I’m thinking it may be either In The Beginning or Clothworks and maybe at that time the fabric was in my stash for at least five+ years and I’ve been waiting for the right pattern. Before I knew what a DrEAMI was, I gather the fabrics and then proceeded to die-cut the patches and even the borders but must have lost my mmmomentum after than because it sat on my shelf until November, 2018 when I ran out of sewing projects to sew in the Formal Sewing Studio (aka Dining Room) during my recovery/Pajamazon days from my fractured left knee. I called finally sewing the blocks together as scrapping the bottom of the project barrel. After the blocks were sewn, the blocks sat until this month when I added this to the 2021/22 Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. BTW, I am pretty sure this is the last project from Pajamazon Days.

I was so not looking forward to working on this project because I knew from the other past projects sewn during Pajamazon Days, my piecing and sewing was far from stellar, i.e., like simple rail blocks which the seams did not line up with the other blocks. These blocks needed to snap together  and line up to emphasize the barn raising layout. It also didn’t help that I didn’t label the blocks so I had a little trouble positioning the blocks up on the design board with my angle-challenge mind and I kept thinking “abandon quilt, abandon quilt” but I persisted.

And I’m glad I did, the blocks sewed together nicely, there were only a few spots where it didn’t line up but I was okay with it. This was more than what I anticipated. My next challenge was the quilting and there was no way I was going to custom it like the one in the magazine. This is why I never use solid white in my quilts and choose a print to guise my simple quilting style.

I decided to only quilt in the ditch and thankfully had just the right quilting foot, bought many moons ago but never used, for this task. Usually, when I quilt in the ditch there are the inevitable spots where I veer off, often times in the places where it would be noticed. There are spots in Memory Lane where you can see the stitches veering off from the seams lines mostly because the seams were not lined up or at the corners but overall I am satisfied with the quilting.

Looking at the front of the quilt, you wouldn’t think it was quilted so I thought I would show the back so you can see the quilting lines. I used a white Aurifil thread and a Microtex Sharp needle to make sure there were no problems when sewing through some of the thick seam lines. I also like to mention this was the first time quilting without a walking foot and it was so quiet I had to look hard to see the quilting in the seams. I almost committed a faux pas with the backing since I found six yards of a light blue print in the backing vault and almost cut into it but then realized I was saving it for another quilt which needed all of it. Whew, I was lucky to find another piece in my stash. Quilting in the ditch meant I had to do a lot of maneuvering around the many angles and block centers which meant a lot of thread burying which is something I am so not use to doing but I had to do what I had to do which is a big accomplishment for me.

Once the quilting was finished around Midnight last night, I decided once the red gingham binding was sewn on I wanted to hand sew and not machine sew the binding down which is what I did this morning.

I just love the look of the red gingham binding and use it whenever I can. There was a slight scare when I couldn’t find the binding in the drawer and thought I might have given it away to Pieceful Wendy but I found it with another project. It would have been just tacky for me to ask for it back being that she already used it, right?

Another reason for my lack of excitement for Memory Lane is that I thought there would be no place for it around the house  but then realized  that I could hang it up in the spare bedroom and the sweet rail fence quilt made from Urban Chix prints with the wonderful rose prints would be on the bed. I made this quilt almost ten years ago but avoid laying it on the bed because of Sophie, the World’s Worst Dog possibly scratching at it. This is the second time that one of the Challenge Quilts bought another quilt out of hiding in the closet, I love when this happens.

With the March UFO done, I can start on somewhat secret sewing. My fabrics have been chosen and I’m ready to start cutting. And the April project for the UFO Challenge is going to be announced tomorrow and I’ll be ready.

Linking up with TGIFF hosted this week by Grace and Peace Quilting and My Quilt Infatuation/NTT