Welcome to the Jungle Quilt

Welcome, little Jungle Quilt, to the land of the finished projects!

When I wrote out my list of Finish Along (FAL) projects in April,
I stumbled across this work in progress.

At that point is was only a pile of strips and squares.
To be honest, I wasn't even sure what pattern I had planned on sewing.



By the middle of May the top was mostly pieced, but a long way from done.

That photo is prime late night cell phone quality, too. Yowza! Thankfully that's history...

With the 2nd quarter FAL deadline looming, I decided to kick my rear into high gear.

Here it is all quilted, bound, washed, and crinkly!

This quilt was my first attempt at free motion quilting on my new machine. Not bad for a first timer, right? I played with a few options, including the knee lift and the 'cruise control'. 

What I learned: 

- The knee lift is awesome 

- Pre-wind a ton of bobbins
- I am not a fan of fmq'ing with gloves on

- I need to practice, practice, practice curves

Some curves had those dreaded 'eyelashes,' but others were right on.

 The quilting pattern was simple, but it provided just the right level of challenge.
 And I even went on a limb with those corners, by improv quilting a squiggly fan.

I'm sure that's the technical description for that shape. Yup. 

Even though it wasn't complicated, it was scary going for those curves with no real plan.
Looking at it now, I'm glad I went for it! No risk - no reward, right?

An unplanned but cool effect is that the quilting sort of disappears into the stripe where the quilting was parallel to the print.

It sort of creates an illusion of a basket weave, see it?

Sure, I only have two finishes this quarter, but I feel like a champion! 

Quilt Stats:

Name: Jungle Quilt
Size: 32"x 36"Fabrics:  Stash
Binding: Stash
Pattern: Quilts for Kids
Quilting: Free Motion Quilting - Lines and Curves 
Completed: June 2014

"But wait, Annaliese, I only see one finished quilt here, didn't you say there were two?" 

That's correct. I am so excited about both finished quilts, that I think each deserves their own posts. 

Keep an eye out for my 2nd finish this quarter (teaser: I may have fallen in love with wonder clips and machine binding on it..)

Linking up this finished quilt to the 2nd quarter FAL party here.

Happy Quilting!