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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Just Tumbling Along

I'm back at work hand piecing the tumbling blocks for my little quilt. This is my first attempt at hand piecing and I've enjoyed the process but I have to say, I'm so thankful for my sewing machine!

I just cannot imagine what it must have been like to sew all your clothing, quilts and linens before the sewing machine. Probably, my family would have had very simple clothing and comforters, not quilts.

As you can tell in the picture, I've pieced the lower half of the little quilt together and tomorrow I hope to finish piecing so I can buy border fabric over the weekend. Its made entirely of Jo Morton fabric and I think its a charm quilt, no fabric repeats but there may be the same design in a several colorways. I say "think its a charm quilt" because as I was beginning to piece one of the rows together, I noticed a repeated fabric so I did a little ripping and stitched a new diamond in place.

I'm struggling a bit with the hand piecing and have the occasional hole in the middle of where the seams should join. I know the reason behind this is not stitching up to the 1/4" seam allowance even though I think I am! Considering this is my first hand pieced project, I think I am doing fairly well though.

This Kathleen Tracy pattern is from her book, "Remembering Adelia". She used two brown fabrics for the borders so I'm auditioning some brown fabric from my "resource center" to see if I like it. I may go with a completely different color but feel I need something darker in the borders to act as the frame around the quilt. Perhaps I will even have the top pieced by early next week!

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Thank you, Betty for the disc of Missouri River Quilt Guild Quilt Show photos! I'm enjoying looking at them and finding lots of inspiration there!

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Be sure to go to Loft Creations to vote for Viewer's Choice in the Parade of Strings! This string project challenge was why I began blogging back in January. Stephanie has included my "30 Years on the Fence" quilt in the choices to vote for Viewer's Choice. There are many great string projects there so go check it out!

9 comments:

katrien said...

Love those thumbling blocks,it's also on my wishlist.

Sue-Anne said...

Your tumbling blocks look fantastic and yes, I cannot imagine what it would have been like before sewing machines (and fancy lights and glasses).

Barbara J said...

The tumbling blocks are coming along just dandy! Love the colours, so warm and inviting :)

Betty said...

Mayleen, happy to hear that you received the DVD. Everytime I look at the quilts I see something new. Enjoy.

BTW. I like your Tumbling Blocks.

Barb said...

I love your brown tumbling blocks.
I'll head over to the sting quilts - thanks

FlourishingPalms said...

I'm a hand-piecer too (see my latest blog post). Though I don't do it exclusively - I love my sewing machine too! - hand-piecing is perfect for traveling, either in a car or plane. It's amazing how many little blocks can be put together in a short amount of time. Your tumbling blocks are very nice. Thanks for your inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Love your tumbling blocks!

Mary Ann said...

Wow, I love your Tumbling Blocks!!! So very pretty!! I use a large pin at the joining sectors of the pieces. This makes a nice-sized hole that you can easily find at the end of each row. The hole disappears after pressing!
Love your blog back-ground...it's the same as mine!! LOL!
All the best!

Jackie said...

Your are tumbling right along lady and it looks very nice. There is a handpiecing bee in my guild and the quilts these ladies put out are just beautiful.
Jackie