2019 Finish-A-Long - Second Task Completed!

I am on a roll.

Completed my second task for the 2019 Finish-A-Long. You can find my list of goals for the first quarter of the Finish-A-long HERE

I managed to put my challenge quilt together, stitched-in-the-ditch around all the seams and completed the FMQ task for the month. Yah!

There were different colours to choose from but I chose grey for some reason. Loved to put the solids together, but have a lot of trouble seeing the black thread on the black fabric. Had to use my special light next to the machine to see where I was going. I am stitching with Aurifil 50/2 in both top and bobbin, simply because I have got lots (and I mean, lots) of Aurifil thread. Also using blending colours because that is what everyone is doing. My preference usually is contrasting colours...I naturally stitch better with contrasting colours, particularly white on black. For the bobbin thread I used black thread as I have got a dark grey backing. This worked obviously well for the black top thread and also worked really nicely for the slightly darker grey area. No pokies and well formed stitches. So I thought I was on a winner, however when it came to the light-grey thread my luck had run out...I had a few pokies of black coming through every now and then. Could have left it, but thought that this was really going to annoy me (this challenge goes for the whole year!),  so matched the light-grey with the same bobbin thread. I decided that I was not going to drive myself crazy with this and will now match each colour with the corresponding bobbin thread, so that my quilting will show also on the backing.

Was rather pleased with myself...for once did not blame the HQ Sweet 16 because I could clearly see what was happening. I get a few stitches with no pokies, then a few pokies, then good again. I actually think it has to do with the bobbin winder, i.e. some inconsistency in winding. I will try to maybe wind the bobbins a tad faster and/or also try to maybe put a thread net on the spool  to ensure consistent winding. We'll see...not really a huge issue as I usually match top and bobbin thread anyway.

Onto the next task...another baby quilt!

Karin

Second Finish for the FAL 2017 First Quarter

My second finish for the Finish Along 2017 is done.  My original goal list can be found HERE.  You can read all about the FAL2017 by clicking on the button below

I am so pleased with my progress. Did not think I would finish another quilt before the deadline was up!

This wall hanging was started last year following a class with Bethanne Nemesh called 'Feather Faster'. I really enjoyed this class even though it was just basically drawing out feathers, but we were left with 'homework' in the form of this cute little wall hanging to try out some of the feathers. This was great fun but took a while to complete as I had started to densely fill in the background. Underestimated this a bit.

But here it is 'Birds On a Wire', designed by Bethanne Nemesh

Close up

Texture Galore

Yes, went a bit overboard with the background fillers but the texture is amazing! Also discovered that by outlining the bottom feathers with the lighter orange thread, it really made it pop...should have done this also in the  feathers above with some white thread...that would have been good.  Well, live and learn...😺

The wall hanging measures 32" x 28" and is exclusively quilted with Aurifil 50/2 thread. Needless to say this was a lot of fun!

Linking up to the Finish Along 2017 over at Eleven Gardens Quilts for the Quarter 1 Link Up

Karin