No excuse

There really is no excuse for the delay in posting this UFO update. I had a finish, actually it was two and the second was finished on Monday. However,  yesterday slid out of control when my hubby decided I should go along with him on a trip into the city. It was a fun trip but I got next to nothing done here.
Since my last post I have finished binding both quilts.

However, I am not that happy with my Pfefferneuse.  There was quite a bit of bleeding of the red/pinks into the neutrals giving some of the blocks a blurry look.
I have re-washed with more colour catchers than I used the first time and am looking into other solutions. But there is enough of a problem that we decided it would not do for the present it was intended. In addition to the colour bleed, some of the string blocks are parting at the seams. I guess my seam allowance wasn't sufficient  for the fabrics and they are fraying apart.
Lots of quilters on Facebook protested when I declared that, saying that all quilts are beautiful and other comments about it being good enough. But the point is; while it might be “good enough” , it is not my best work. And I am certainly not sending off to distant relatives second rate work.
That means I have to pull out another UFO and finish it up. I guess this is where doing all sorts of sew-alongs online is paying off.  I have Bonnie’s Orange Crush or Garden Party to choose from.
I was favouring Orange Crush because I thought it was further along but then discovered there is a pieced border not done. Whereas I think I have enough of the setting blocks done to put together a smaller version of Garden Party. Off to the sewing room to debate with myself.  But first to link up with Jo.

UFO update

I held off posting about my progress last week thinking I would have a finish in a day or so. Alas not really a complete finish.
I was quilting Pfefferneuse and while I did get all the quilting done by Thursday, it is still waiting binding and labeling.
( the zebra print is a coverlet underneath it, I left off the final border)




The reason I dropped work on this, was to finish a dead-line project. A customer wanted their quilt by the 16th so I had to speed up on it. And I succeeded in getting all the quilting done on it ( Smokey Mountain Stars ).
I am really going to be pained to give up this quilt. The whole time I was quilting it, I fell more in love with it. definitely going to have to do another one.
So that leaves me with two quilts in the queue for binding. Tuesday I spent making bias binding for the both of them. I forget now who I was talking to but someone mentioned that the trouble I was having with my Janome binding tool might be because I wasn’t using bias binding. So I resolved to master making bias binding.
Several mistakes happened including marking my lines the wrong was the first time I did it.
But I persevered and have both cut and ready to go into the tool. So that’s where I’ll be today after I link up with Jo's Ufo Update

Another finish

Yes ! Another finish, this one an actual UFO from deep in the pile. Probably from 2015 although I haven’t scrolled back through my posts to see the actual date.  It is a pattern called Film At Five and is supposed to be a  5 X 5 grid of blocks but I gave up at 3 X 4 and called it a wrap. At the time I was working on it I remember being exasperated at how long a process it was to get all the sashing done.  Now that I have it quilted I am in love with it again and want to make another.

I finished hand sewing the binding down last night but wanted to wait and get daytime pictures before posting.

I thought about an all over quilting pattern but decided to go with outlining the sashing and blocks to emphasise the film strip look. And then a big daisy in the block to anchor the batting. If it had been Warm and Natural type batting  I might have done a  stipple in the block but I was using a high loft polyester batting and that seems to  pucker when I try and stipple it.
All in all very happy with the end results and even happier to have a finish to link up with Jo