Through the trees

My finish this month is a stack a slash "Through the Trees" for a very good friend.

I used this tutorial from Kate Conklin Designs. I started this quilt back in January, and frankly it has taken me so long to finish because it was my first attempt at straight line quilting. Needless to say, I had a lot of learning to do!

Problems started early in - puckers! But after a consult with the Modern Quilt Guild I started to figure out my sewing machine - a LOT less tension, longer stitches, slow and steady, and making sure my quilt sandwich was solid and flat, flat, flat! The end result still has a few puckers, but I am going to depend on the final wash and pucker to take care of them :)

Then it was on to binding...I have been quilting for many years, but was self taught about 15 years ago. Now the things I am learning in the virtual modern quilting world is blowing my mind! For this quilt I used a combo of tutorials from Red Pepper Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts. This new to me method is so great, and still allows me to machine stitch the binding which is what I prefer.

In the end, I am happy with the results of the quilt, am congratulating myself for pushing my boundaries, and am super excited to give this to my friend on her big birthday!

Have you pushed your boundaries this month?

Adrienne