Finished Just Under the Wire

So, if you check out that little "UFO Challenge" list along the right side of the page, the one where I was supposed to finish one UFO per month this year, you might notice that I haven't finished one since, oh, March or so... but good news! I just finished my September challenge quilt, with barely a moment to spare.

This quilt started out early in 2009, as a mystery quilt with Hugs from Helen. I remember being super excited to find all the fabrics I needed right in my stash. They weren't "perfect," but they worked. They looked bright and cheery and Eastery, and since I've never made an Easter quilt, I felt totally justified in starting something new. I kept up on the mystery steps, right up to the finished top. I even found a backing in my stash got it all layered, pinned and ready to quilt...

... then I got completely hung up on the quilting.

I wanted to do some free-motion meandering in the white spaces, though I have always been most comfortable with straight line quilting, crosshatching, stitch-in-the-ditch, etc. Thus my Easter quilt became a UFO.

This week, with only a few days left in September, I thought I might as well just see what number had been drawn for the UFO Challenge at Patchwork Times. Lo and behold, it was number 11, the Easter quilt. All it needed was quilted and bound. Totally do-able, if I could make myself "just do it."

So I did it.

And now it's done. :o)

It's far from perfect. I either had some kind of tension issue, or I was moving too fast, or both. The back doesn't look quite as nice as the front, but it's usable, and it was a great learning experience. Most importantly, I think I've gotten over the fear of free-motion quilting, once I iron out a few bugs in the technique.

Bottom line, I'm SO happy to finally have it finished!

******************************

A little update on an earlier finish this week. My nephew and niece received the quilt I made for baby Nora and sent me this picture of her loving her quilt.

How sweet is that? Oh, I wish I could just hop across the country and snuggle that little cutie -- but I guess the quilt will have to do it for me. :o)

******************************* And since I haven't done so in a VERY long time, I'm linking up to Amy's "Sew and Tell Fridays" page. Can't wait to see what everyone else has been working on!