Forest Friends Quilt Finished

My Forest Friends quilt was my May and then my June “A Lovely Year of Finishes Goal” and there were times in the last week that I wondered if it would end up being my July goal as well.

Before starting to do the free motion quilting on it, I tested the tension and stitch setting on a practice sandwich.   There followed several very frustrating hours trying to figure out why the machine would sew perfectly for a while and then start skipping stitches.

I re-threaded the top thread and reinserted the bobbin.  I changed the needle twice.  I would switch back to my regular presser foot or walking foot and my usual settings and it would sew fine but the moment I dropped the feed dogs and put the darning foot on, it would skip stitches.

I adjusted the tension both up and down.  I tried using a different thread.   Finally after taking a long break, I tried one more thing.  I dialed the upper thread tension down as low as it would go… something I’d never had to do with previous free motion quilting projects.  That worked!

But the troubles didn’t end there.  I think because I so wanted this quilt to turn out well, I wasn’t able to really relax and let the free motion quilting flow the way I did on my other practice projects that I didn’t care as much about.

There was a lot of unpicking that took place and that not only slowed me down but made it even harder to relax and get into the flow and ease of motion.

It wasn’t until late Saturday evening that the last section of free motion quilted leaves was finished.  Sunday morning, I buried all the threads and then it was time for the binding.  By that time, I was determined to finish it, if I had to stay up all Sunday night to do it.  2 am Monday morning I completed hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt.

And here it is:

Quilt stats:

Finished size: 40″ X 46″

Pattern: One Big Cabin by Row House Creations

Fabric for the quilt came in a kit I purchased when we stopped at Heritage Designs at the Amana Colonies in Iowa during our trip to Grand Island, Nebraska in the spring of 2014.

To quilt the half log cabin blocks and the bottom border, I used the same beautiful Sulky Blendable (#4106) that I used on my Flying Zebra Quilt and my Love Struck Purse.

For the free motion quilting I used another Sulky Blendable… #4001.

That pretty rainbow fabric I used for the binding is Noah’s Ark by Jim Shore for Red Rooster Fabrics.

And now for some close-ups…

The Squirrel:

The Owl:

The Raccoon:

A close-up of the free motion quilting:

More free motion quilted leaves:

I love this backing fabric.  I’m so glad I have some leftover to use in another project.

I can check this project off my 2015 Finish Along Q2 list as well.

Forest Friends is now draped over the reading chair in our master bedroom, ready to snuggle up with on cooler days.

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