Another quilt off the UFO list!

Well, I finally finished a UFO. This quilt has been long in the makings. The fabric used is from Robyn Pandolf, Folk Art Christmas II, at the time she was with Moda Fabrics. As you can see, it has been a while. I do love that line of fabric. The rich greens and burgundy reds are just right for my taste. I have named this quilt "Yule Time Garden". It is what I would classify as a winter quilt; the batting used is 100% wool. This was my first time using this type of batting. I tend to used Warm & Natural, which is 100% cotton.

Machine quilting the quilt was a challenge at first. Wool as a bouncy loft effect so my tension was off. It took me a long time to arrive at the right tension. I mainly us Mettler Silk finish 50 wt thread for most of my machine quilting. My Bernina just loves that thread. It had not occurred to me that I would have a tension problem given I know both my machine and the thread. After days of frustration, I put the quilt aside in total disgust. It wasn't until I began machine quilting another quilt using Coat's thread that it occurred to me to use the hook on the bobbin case to add extra bobbin tension. This is not a technique I had ever used with Mettler threads. After adjusting the bobbin tension to normal, I threaded through the hook and voila! I can still feel myself banging my head on my sewing table in total frustration.

Unfortunately, you cannot see the machine quilting details. It is difficult to get a good shot of the pattern. I will make another attempt after I have recovered from the frustration. Tension problem aside, it did take a while to machine quilt this project. I do not feel that I am finished with it. The red inner border needs something. What? I am still trying to figure that out. However, that does not keep me from enjoying the quilt. I will live with it for a while and decide what I want to do with that inner border.

I will say that the quilt is nice and cozy on those cold winter days. It adds extra warmth without the heaviness. I do plan on making more winter quilts. I have heard quilter mention how sweet wool is to hand quilt. Although I have never handquilted on wool, I will say that with machine quilting, it is not hard on needles. With Warm & Natural I do need to change my needle at least once during the quilting project. Of course this is all dependent on my not sewing over a safety pin.