Free Fall Quilt--A Final Finish

Updated 6/15/17

I previously posted on 6/2/17 that I had finished my Free Fall Quilt and wanted to update this post with photos of the quilt hanging on my staircase wall.  This wall has been a big blank for the past four years and it's so nice to have a quilt once again hanging on the wall even though it can be treacherous getting it on the wall.  The Free Fall Quilt is fitting in nicely with the other quilts I have hanging on the stairway and it really brightens up an otherwise dark area in my house since there's not too much exposure natural light coming in.  It really is nice to make a quilt when you know you have a spot for it.  To see the other Free Fall Quilts made, here is the link:

I'm very happy to share my Free Fall Quilt which is a QAL hosted by Sandra of mmm! Quilts (you can read about it here).  This 38" square quilt was designed by Sandra and involved foundation piecing which is something I don't do very often.  Despite not being able to print the foundation pieces and having to draft them myself, this quilt came together very well and I am glad I participated in this Free Fall QAL.  The completion date and final link-up is June 15th and I'm ahead of schedule which is a nice place to be.

I have to thank Yvonne of Quilting JetGirl for the following trifecta of reasons:

• I joined the QAL because she posted about this on her blog, it was a monkey see, monkey do inspiration
• Yvonne's choice of fabrics for her quilt helped me to see I could use modern prints instead of batiks
• And the big reason, after finishing the top, the big hang up for me was how to quilt it.  Fortunately, Yvonne completed her quilt last week and she machine quilted it with horizontal straight lines which I wanted to do but wasn't sure how it would look.  After seeing Yvonne's quilt (you can see it here),  I knew this was what I wanted to do and let her know that I was going to copy her quilting idea.  Thankfully, she gave me the go ahead.

Sadly, the Juki woes continued with this quilting.  After bringing my machine back to the sewing shop and figuring out the problem with the bobbin winder wasn't that they didn't install the new bobbin ring, (which it turned out they did, they just like to hang the replaced part on the thread holder) it was the bobbin itself, it was defective.  I thought all could be forgiven now until I started quilting Free Fall; I was still getting grease spots even after I cleaned the walking foot and needle area so my annoyance with the dealer was rekindled.

Apparently, I should have cleaned the walking foot better with Q-tips.  I couldn't believe how much grease was in there and wondering why all this grease.  When I picked up the machine the first time, the repairman spent more time telling me that I was using the wrong foot and I had to explain that a Janome Walking Foot can be used on this Juki, especially if you do straight line quilting like I do.  Maybe I don't know the mechanics of how this grease could have gotten there but I do know that I never had this problem before the machine was serviced.  So, I don't think I'll be doing any more business with this dealer.

Needless to say, my Free Fall Quilt is far from being perfect, just like my other quilts, but I'm happy that it's finished and ready to hang up.  Now to finish some other projects on my list now......

BTW, I haven't posted any new totals for my Minus 100 Yard Challenge lately which thanks to Memorial Day Sales, I'm sadly moving farther away from my goal.  I'll post my new numbers once the packages arrive.

Linking up with:

Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

something rosemade: Blocks, Burp Cloths, Blogging and Bad News

B words were definitely the theme this week; I was busy in a good way.

Blocks were completed for the two sew alongs I'm participating in, which are:

The Freefall Spring Quilt Along hosted by mmm quilts.  The QAL is from March 20 thru June 15 and the instructions for the first eight leaves were posted on April 3rd.  Some quilters have already posted on the Freefall linky party with details on the making of their blocks which involved rotary cutting, trimming, etc.  I have a confession, I die-cut all of my patches, seeing that this block could easily be made with die-cuts and I, for one, never miss an opportunity to use one of my four die-cutters.  I have ten good reasons why I die-cut, they're my thumbs and fingers; a ninja with a rotary cutter, I am not.  But I digress, because thinking these blocks were going to be a cinch to make, I did run into problems with the paper piecing of the leaf points.  I could not get the pattern to print at the correct size and let me tell you being 1/16" short is a big difference, the leaf points did not match for the two blocks I made.  I ended up drawing the pattern on graph paper and the correct size of the leaf point made the sewing go a lot quicker.  I'm looking forward to making another set of the leaf blocks with a different background; this really is a nice project to use up some of the bright fabrics that I have been collecting.  I thinking my colors are more tropical Spring, please don't think Fall.

I also finished the last of the six large hexagons for the unofficial Smitten Quilt Along I am doing with my friend Carol.  We are still friends and still am enjoying sewing these hexagons while watching episodes of Gilmore Girls.  I only have twenty-two episodes left to watch and eleven more hexagons to make.  Lesson learned while making these hexagons is not to watch more than three episodes at a time; when I did, I wanted to drink coffee at Midnight plus my head really started spinning from all the loud bantering from Lorelai and gang which didn't make falling asleep very easy.

Burp Cloths

More burp cloths for my sweet, new granddaughter Micah Rose.   I already made some before her birth, you can read the post about the first batch here.  This time no more gender neutral, pink is the color for this batch and I used a much simpler pattern; you could make each one in fifteen minutes.  And again, I have to ask myself, why did I make so many.

Blogging

Monday, April 10th was the official start of the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers and I was in the first group of the Better Bloggers Hive to post, you can read my introductory post here.  If you are a new quilt blogger, like me, this was a wonderful opportunity for me to participate in this Blog Hop.  I'm learning how to improve and increase my blogging/online experience and knowledge.  Plus it's  the best way to building community and friendship with other quilters.  It seems like everyday I am learning something new about blogging and my favorite part of all if when you don't know something, there is someone in the group who is willing to help you, all you have to do is ask.  And for someone who is retired and misses the IT Help Desk at work, this is so important.  I was leery about signing up at first because of my computer experience but I am so glad I did.  Please be sure to check out the Blog Hop by clicking on one of the Hive Host's links: Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl, Leanne @shecanquilt and Beth @cookingupquilts.  There are some wonderful  giveaways being offered during the Blog Hop.

Bad News (sort of for me) 

In a previous post, I was minus 70.75 yards in my 2017 Minus 100 yard Challenge.  Well, after ending my  fabric fast which lasted over three months and partaking in some fabric sales and attending the International Quilt Festival last week,  I added 39 yards to my stash.  Yes, I checked my figures and photos of my purchases.  Thankfully I had sewing activity this week which used up 9.5 yards and makes the new total still commendable, I think, but I am restarting the fabric fast by resisting a great sale yesterday.

Minus 100 Yards Challenge YTD Total:  - 41 yards

Thanks for stopping by.  I am now headed downstairs to the studio, where I finally did a much-needed clean up and some reorganization, only to once again create a mess because projects needs to be finish so I can use some yardage up.

Linking up with:
mmm quilts

Crazy Mom Quilts

Busy Hands Quilts: Finish or Not Friday