Late Finish--or Early?

So I'm still in a holiday mode here. (Oh wait, I said that on Wednesday). But really, I had so much fun starting the FMQ on the quilt that I spent ALL DAY working on it on Wednesday, and hand stitched the binding to the back yesterday. So much for thinking that maybe slowing down to learn FMQ this year would be a good thing. And really, what else can you do but quilt when the weather outside is frightful? 

This is either a late holiday finish or an early one for next fall.

First, I finished the red and green bracts on the poinsettias. Then I did the flower pot and background. The background was the only part I did with cotton quilting thread. The rest was plain old polyester sewing thread. For the border, I decided to follow the outlines of the poinsettias. I was planning to do it carefully, but by that time I was in a finish-it-up frenzy, so I scribble quilted them (sort of following the lines but not really). Is that a quilting term or did I just make that up? I like that. Scribble quilting. Kind of like doodling. I'm a major doodler when I'm on the phone. No piece of paper nearby is safe from my pencil. I wish I could say that my doodles are Zentangle-ish, but they're not. They are fun, though, so maybe that's why I had so much fun doing this border. I just scribbled away. 

 

The back's a little wonky looking. You can see where I started and stopped some of the lines of stitching. I was inconsistent in how I quilted the bracts. And there's a little thread nest that I discovered when I was done with the border. But I'm fine with it. I'm happy with how the front turned out, and that's all anyone's going to see. (Well, except you, in this picture.)

So what did I learn with this one?
1. Yup, I still like paper piecing.
2. Once I get going on FMQ, it's hard to take my time. I just want to keep going and going. I probably sacrifice some accuracy, but, oh well.
3. Scribble quilting is FUN.
4. Even though I like the look of heavier quilting thread, I don't mind using thinner thread--and even regular sewing thread works on my machine.
5. I like using a chalkoner for marking lines if I need to--at least it worked well with the fabrics in this quilt, and rubbed off easily.
6. I like black fabric, but even the little bit of black in this quilt was a challenge to work with with my middle+ age eyes. From now on, I don't think l'll use a lot of black in a quilt.
7. I used Clover Wonderclips for the first time ever to hold the binding down. They are Won.Der.Ful. Why didn't I ever use them before?
9. In the winter, I can get halfway decent pictures indoors in front of my storm door--some slight shadows, but the light is good to show quilting on little quilts.
8. It's okay to work on a holiday quilt after the holidays are over, and it's okay to put it up for display then, too. It will brighten a wall until, oh, maybe Valentine's Day. 

This quilt was pieced on my Singer Featherweight and quilted on my Singer 115 treadle. The pattern is from 1994 by Eileen Bahring Sullivan. You might be able to still find it online. After squaring and binding it, the quilt measured 26 inches by just under 23. I don't plan to wash it. 

I'm linking up today with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday, with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get A Whoop Whoop, and with Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing for Free Motion Mavericks. 

Now I'm going to put my feet up and catch up on everyone else's blogs that I wasn't reading because I was in the FMQ zone.