Butterfly Quilt - Finish Q4

Well, I have finished one of my 4th Quarter goals....I am close on one more, picking it up from the quilter's tomorrow.  Then I get to bind it.  I'm anxious to see it.

But here is the one I have finished....I've had this top for a while but I wasn't very motivated to finish it since I didn't have anyone to give it too (family of boys, you know).  When writing my goals I decided to put it on the list to force myself to practice some Free Motion Quilting.   Then my BOM group announced a quilt drive for foster children.  That gave me a great reason to finish it up.

The pattern is from Fabulously Fast Quilts by Amy Smart.  I purchased a scrap bag of Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket which happened to be mostly strips so it worked really well and came together quickly. 

Things I learned:

• Better basting helps!  I have had a really hard time not getting puckers on larger quilts.  I thought I was basting okay, but apparently not.  This time I both spray basted and pinned.  Perhaps that seems overkill, but at least it worked!
• Use the right foot!  I had tried to use a generic FMQ foot but found that things did not go very smoothly.  I bought the one specifically for my Janome machine and it is so much better.  
• I have not had a lot of success in Free Motion Quilting.  I've done some smaller projects that were okay.  It felt so good to finish this medium sized quilt....it's proof I'm getting better.  Hooray.

Also, here is a little quilt that I made for a neighbor who had a baby.  I enjoyed using some orange in this one. I hope they like it too.  I know it's not the typical blue quilt for a baby boy, but sometimes it's nice to have something different.  :) 

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.