Sunday, February 17, 2013

Slow Sunday Stitching - hand piecing

Yippee...it's Sunday again! Today it's going to be cold here at around minus 13 degrees...perfect hand stitching weather!
This morning I made the draw for the winner of my "Spread a Little Love" mini quilt, and it is #20 - Britt-Inger! Thanks to everyone who participated in the Hugs and Kisses blog hop
Did you see that we had over 20 link ups for last week's Slow Sunday Stitching with incredible hand work being shared!? The links last week inspired me to dig out my old hand piecing project - a really, really old baby blocks project! 
Here are the blocks laid out on my dining room table. 
This is at least 15 years old, and every once in a while I find it again and make a few more blocks, and put it away because: 
1) I have no plan for it,  
2) there is no motivating deadline, and 
3) it is boring with only 3 colours! 
I will try to keep at it until I have enough blocks for a baby quilt.
Hand piecing takes me right back to my roots in quilting. Many years ago a very talented quilter named Margery Thorman generously offered to teach me how to quilt, and she did every step by hand...the old fashioned way with templates and scissors (no rotary cutter!)  Every week over the course of the winter in 1996 I went to her house and she taught me to hand piece blocks and how to hand quilt. 


This is the quilt I made with her, which was made totally from fabric from her stash. All the blocks were hand pieced and it was quilted by hand.
I am remembering Mrs. T today and honouring her memory by doing some hand work. She would be so pleased to know that she helped me to fall in love with quilting, and that I am still at it!
What are you hand stitching today? 
Share your blog link up below:

14 comments:

scraphappy said...

What an amazing quilt to learn on. Hard to imagine making it all with templates and scissors. I guess that is how all quilts were made long ago.

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

Lovely quilt..and I really like your tumbling Blocks. when I first started quilting ...the piecing and everything was done by hand. I still hand quilt all mu large quilts. I find it more relaxing. But am learning to machine quilt....a slow process for me...lol

Kate said...

What a great memory and a lovely quilt to go with it. I like the tumbling blocks, but working in one color is hard. Maybe if you work on it a little bit each week, it won't seem so bad.

Janet O. said...

I've always wanted to do a tumbling block quilt, but it is hard for me to stick to a limited color palette, too. It will be a pretty baby quilt for a lucky baby--someday. : )
What a sweet memory of someone who changed your life in a very positive way! That is a great sampler quilt--and all by hand. WOW!

sophie said...

It looks like it's not too late to add more colors to your tumbling blocks, if you wanted. It's very pretty. I've got some needle-turn appliqué in mind for later today ... if I can get things organized ;-)

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

How lucky for you to learn to quilt from an expert. Your sampler quilt is gorgeous,and your tumbling block will make a great baby quilt to some lucky baby. I hear a lot of talk about hand quilting these days, I hope it is making a come back.

Cathy said...

I have some UFOs for the same reason as your tumbling blocks. I'm trying to get a bunch of them finished this year.

How lucky you were to have someone to pass on quilting skills to you. I wish my quilting grandmother had lived closer and lived longer so I could have learned such things from her. It's not the same to learn from a video or a book.

You have such a beautiful quilt and lovely memories, I'm sure.

Carrie P. said...

how nice of Margery to show you how to quilt the old fashioned way. I am sure you learned a lot with that quilt too.

Angie said...

Great "learning to quilt" story with lovely memories!

audrey said...

Love your quilt! What an amazing way to learn how to hand piece and hand quilt. Wonderful experience for you.:)

Denise :) said...

What a sweet, sweet post! You do her honor this morning - and y'all did lovely work together!!! :)

Denise :) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Teresa in Music City said...

Such a beautiful story in honor of your mentor Kathy! Thanks for sharing!

Doniene said...

Kathy, what a wonderful testimony of your beginnings!! Mrs. T was a peach!! Love all your projects!!

Have a great day!