Finish No. 3

For my third finish of the 2ndQ 2016 Finish-A-Long, I tackled my Penny Candy quilt, a pattern from Kathy Brown's book Strip Smart Quilts.

I made this quilt in a class at my LQS in August of last year...hmm, so really it's not to old of a UFO.  I made a few cutting mistakes, and had to modify the layout a bit.  After a lot of crawling around on the floor and shifting squares and cursing at the dog every time he laid across the blocks...I ended up with a rainbow-y layout.  Happy Happy!

I quilted this on my Pfaff Performance 5.0 with an odd semi-flower, semi orange peel pattern...it turned out,well, meh...I did get a better flower in the corner blocks...of course after I had already filled the center of the quilt...but picking out stitching was not on my radar.  Finished is better than perfect.

I did try out some FMQ loops in the borders...and discovered the Pfaff Performance likes FMQ so much more than the Tiptronic!  Super smooth quilting...easy-peasy!  There is definitely more FMQ in my future.

And then...disaster!

I washed the finished quilt, along with a few other quilts and TWO color catcher sheets...and had some pretty awful bleeding from my navy blue polka dot binding (a Stonehill brand fabric from JoAnns....that I L.O.V.E.!)  I'm still so sad...but I keep reminding myself that the quilt still works...it will still keep my lap warm (and/or cat hair off of the couch!), it is still completely usable...even a bit more vintag-ey looking, right?

Love pieced backings!

Did I learn a lesson to pre-wash all my fabrics...probably not, I'm just a rebel like that...

Will I complain when the really awesome navy blue polka dot bleeds again...probably, I'm not real smart like that...

Oh well...

Third item checked off my UFO list...and I even have two more tops basted and ready to go...

This also makes finish #13 for 2016...with 55 total (and 39 from my 2ndQ list) remaining WIPs!

I'm pluggin' along!