Two More.....

My hour of needle and thread this week was spent on everything but hexies only two more to add to the garden.  I did do about 8 hours of hand sewing mostly stitching down bindings.A friend is expecting her first granddaughter this week so had to get a pink baby quilt finished

I had to share this picture of Bonnie from QUILTVILLE using her treadle machine while I was machine embroidering pink bows on my quilt. Hasn't technology grown? I would still would have rather been treadling along with Quiltcam.

THE HEXIES ARE ROLLING ALONG!

I am not very good at keeping track of quilt progressions.  I am drawn to trying a block, to see how it is constructed, what colors should be used, how the seams should be pressed, etc. Then when I find just the right formula and start constructing I do a few than I am bored. I just don't get excited doing the same block one after another. I start a few blocks, put them away, find it later and can't remember when it was started and sometimes even why I started. This is the reason that I can't remember when I started this quilt. I know that I used it as a carry along project while my son was playing basketball on a traveling  team, sometime in the early 90's, that only makes it about 16 or 17 years ago. It needs to be finished,

I am so grateful that Bonnie from Quiltville issued the challenge for an hour a day of unplugged sewing. I have finished 16 of the 32 flower blocks and 4 of the half blocks in the two weeks I have been working on this project.. My total hours are 21, had a couple of days that I couldn't sew but the time just adds up when I made the effort. I would sure like to get it finished before the end of the year.

QUILT INSPIRATION

This is the quilt that inspired me to make a Grandmothers Flower Garden. It was made by my Grandmother, late 1940"s. It is hand pieced, of course, but has no batting and is tied to a background fabric, probably a sheet. I can remember asking her why it wasn't puffy and she said that she only made summer quilts, not winter quilts. She lived until she was 101 and even in her 90's  was still piecing blocks, mostly simple four patches and nine patches. I don't remember ever seeing one of hers made with half squares or quarter squares. Most were machine pieces and all were tied.


It looks like it is machine appliqued to the backing but it is done by hand with embroidery floss.

Mine are one inch hexies and hers are three quarter inches but it looks so much smaller. I wish I knew how long it took her to finish hers.

 I am surprised how much I have accomplished this week, I was able to finish 4 flowers and covered about 15 of the connecting hexies. Thank you Bonnie at Quiltville, for challenging me to the one hour a day with a needle and thread.

It was a busy day yesterday but did manage to get in another hour and  half  with the hexies. It is easy to baste one hexie at a time but putting them together into a flower takes longer, I can manage one in an evening. This process is going sloooow.

 I started this process when I was taxing kids back and forth to school and after school activities. It was great then, something to do while waiting. Working on them every night is so boring. I may have to alternate with another project.

Another day another hour! An hour or so with Quiltcam really helps to keep these hexies rolling. Bonnie from Quiltville asked for a post about where we quilt. Here was mine last night!

That little pull out table on the side makes a nifty spot for the needle threader and thread. Too bad the cleaning fairy hadn't arrived this week to clean up the desk mess.

TUESDAY MORNING??

It is Tuesday but feels like a Monday, I just hate having to put the house back in order after a long weekend. I would much rather be quilting.

My one hour a day of hand quilting a day has been pretty productive over the weekend but when things get back to normal it probably will be harder to make the time. I put together one flower while watching TV.

Have you seen the Downton Abbey series? I just discovered it, just imagining the goings on between the upstairs and the downstairs. Maggy Smith plays the matriarch and she is a Hoot! I can't wait until it is back on PBS in January.

I have not done one stitch of hand quilting since it took me eight years to finish my DH triple Irish Chain quilt about six years ago. Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville issued a challenge for one hour a day of quilting by hand, I leaped at the change and just signed my name.

Whoops, now what do I hand quilt for one hour a day? I have two tops ready to quilt, Orca Bay and Midnight Flight, both too many pieces to hand quilt. Surely there is something put away that needs to be hand quilted, after searching through the back of my closet I found the box of hexies. A Grandmothers' Flower Garden that I started mid 80's, not exactly hand quilting but it is done with a needle and thread by hand so it qualifies in my little mind.

 And it needs to be finished, so it is official I am working on it for one hour a day. It requires 32 flowers and 6 half flowers. I have 6 flowers and 2 half flowers so it is going to take a lot of "ONE HOURS"!

I started last night while the ballgame was on and finished enough hexies for one more flower, I am on the way, 25 flowers to go!