First Finish--QAL 1st quarter

Finished front view of Winter Ice

Winter Ice is finished! It was the perfect project to have had available to stitch as I have started to implement my dad's last wishes.  It was good to have a quilting plan and all I had to do was execute it. I'm glad I didn't have to make any real decisions!!

You can click this link to review my list that I posted earlier this month regarding the FAL2017! I do have the sleeve and label to hand stitch; but, it is at the "useable" stage so I'm counting it finished now! Note that most of the wave is gone from the border. I put the binding on just like Luann Fischer from Let's Create Today suggested in the comment she left on my last post. I've shared it below with you! Thanks again Luann!

"Luann FischerJanuary 16, 2017 at 3:11 PM

Well executed quilting! This quilt is getting lovelier by the stitch. 

For the binding might I suggest the following. Determine the measurement you want each side to finish at. Cut this exact length of twill tape, for each side. Mark half points, quarter points, and as many more as you may need. Then pin your marked piece of twill tape to its corresponding side, matching up your integral markings. You can use a basting stitch or regular to stitch it into the 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then when you attach the binding, just keep the twill tape encased in that seam allowance area and it will tame the edges. I hope I've made this clear, if not, let me know and I'll try to better explain it. The point is, twill tape does NOT stretch, so if it is cut to the desired size, you may be easing the quilt edge into it, but it won't be wavy when finished."

Winter Ice label

I've started to track how many hours it takes me to make a project as well as what items go into the project. Every quilt has a story and this information just adds to the story line!

I used three marking pencils, two chalk refills, 10 sewing machine needles, one hand sewing needle, six spools of thread, one 80/20 queen size batting package and 24 yards of fabric of which 20 yards came from my stash! (Already, I am well on my way to meeting my yearly goal of sewing 50 yards of fabric from stash!) The cost of the materials was $266.

What were the hours that I spent prewashing fabric, ironing, cutting, piecing, quilting and binding it into the project? The answer is 132 hours! Amazing isn't it? That number doesn't count the time I searched for the background fabric. It doesn't include all the time I spent drawing and auditioning quilting designs as well as fabrics for the project!


The pillowcase is stitched for the project. I try to stitch a pillow case for each project as a way to store the project. It also doubles as a gift bag when I give it away. In this case, I didn't have a large enough "scrap" piece for the main body of the pillow case; but, this a print fabric coordinated well with the other fabrics I used!

Pillow case for the quilt

I've been piecing the back to use as many of the leftover pieces of the projects as possible after I have finished the top. Piecing the back, sure makes great use of the remaining pieces. Yes, it can be time consuming when there are a lot of pieces. The back for this project took about a day to piece.

Any pieces left from piecing the back, I cut following Bonnie Hunter's plan. I'm beginning to collect enough like sized pieces that I might be able to use some in an actual project. How cool will that be to have precut pieces! When that happens, I'll share it in a post. In the meantime, this is the finished back.  This was one of those times when I contemplated making the back a top; but, in the end, I decided it would be better to have one finished project than two unfinished ones! 😊

What I liked about this project:
-- how I was able to divide and conquer the quilting designs for the different quilt sections.
-- how cool the ruler worked for the cross hatching design in the outer border!
-- how my fabric choices worked in this design!

What didn't work so well with this project:
--the straight line ruler work in the middle of the quilt.
I decided that before I give up, perhaps, I needed to take a class and perhaps, I needed to try a different design of rulers. At the end of January, Quilting Delights is hosting a ruler class so I signed up for it. It meets once a month for the next eight months. I'll reassess my ruler skills at the end of that time!
--thread tails. I should have buried the threads!

Finished back view of Winter Ice

What I thought would work; but, didn't make a difference with this project:
--I was careful about ditch quilting and adding the dense quilting after I had quilted medium or light areas. I thought that this tactic would greatly reduce the wonkiness that happens to my projects by the end of quilting. I can't say that I noticed a big enough change to say that tactic worked well which was a disappointment! Perhaps, there isn't a way to get around that wonkiness when quilting on a domestic machine.

What I did do that I surprised me: I was able to crawl around on my knees to block and mark the edges of the quilt. The gel injections I had in November are working. It has been four days since I was on my knees and I'm still recovering though. No way would I have been able to do this before the gel injections!

Eventually, this will end up on someone's bed; but for now, I'm going to enjoy it.