2nd Week of Simply Needle & Thread

 

This week has been the second week for me on the Simply Needle & Thread one hour per day challenge. I managed to clock up 7.5 hours of hand sewing - the same amount as last week!

I have been working on the 2nd block of the Chester County Criswell quilt - Elizabeth Cowan...

... and I have finished the Seven Swans are Swimming for my 12 Days of Christmas quilt.

Also started to prep the Eight Maids are Milking block.

I wonder if I'll finish it by Christmas??? I doubt it but you never know.

Cheers

Carole

1st week of Simply Needle & Thread challenge

During my first week on the Simply Needle & Thread challenge I have managed to: complete another hand pieced Morrell block - yay! (don't look too closely at the centre, I'm still new to hand piecing)

 

...prepare by hand basting the applique for the 2nd block - Elizabeth Cowan - for the Chester County Criswell quilt.

And do some hand embroidery on the Seven Swans are Swimming block for my 12 Days of Christmas quilt.

The challenge suggested that you keep track of your time on a calendar. I managed to rack up a total of 7.5 hours - phew! - just managed to meet the goal of one per day of hand sewing per week.

I've also been noticing red & white around me, in anticipation of the Quilts in the Barn exhibition next month. Here are some ranunculus flowers I spied today at the Conservatory in the Fitzroy Gardens, one of Melbourne's most popular tourist attractions. It's great to act like a tourist in your own city!

Cheers

Carole

1 Hour per Day Challenge

In America, September is National Sewing Month. Bonnie at Quiltville's Quips & Snips has put out the challenge to try and complete one hour of hand sewing per day during this month. I thought it would be fun to join, even though it's half way through September - better late than never! This should be easily achievable for me with my sewing time on the bus....but having said that, last week I didn't finish any blocks because I didn't commute by bus each day.

Anyway, I did manage to do some more hand piecing on another Morrell block ....

And these are some other Morrell blocks I completed sometime ago...

For more of my Morrell blocks visit here & here.

Must try and prep the 2nd Chester County Criswell block - Elizabeth Cowan this weekend. Don't want to get behind on this, the 3rd pattern will be released in a couple of weeks!

Cheers

Carole

My 1st hand pieced block

This block for my Morrell quilt is the first hand piecing I have ever done (I did machine the borders on). I think the most difficult part was pressing the darn thing!

Now I 'm selecting fabrics for another block to hand piece. I'm feeling as though I have used a lot of different fabrics in this quilt and I hope they all somehow come together when it is finished.

Here are some more Morrell blocks that I prepared earlier...

I have also done some more on the 12 Days of Christmas quilt. Finished the machine applique and embroidery for the Seven Swans are Swimming. A nice happy yellow sun that we would like to see more of here in Melbourne.

Cute swim ring on number 5...

These ladies are now ready for their hand embroidery to be finished on the bus.

I've also done some fabric shopping at my local shop (Kaye's Needles & Pins), these could be used for the Chester County Criswell and/or Morrell quilts. Yummy...

Cheers

Carole

Piecing Playing & Prepping

After hubby and I had prepared, cooked, eaten and cleaned up a big Father's Day brunch for the family I had some time for piecing, playing & prepping. I had previously prepared a block for my Morrell quilt as I was lucky enough to attend a 'catch-up' class with Di Ford (Hall) at my local patchwork shop, Needles and Pins in Warrandyte last week. It was a great opportunity to get re-motivated with the Sarah Morell quilt and I wanted to learn hand piecing as I'd never done this before. Some of the blocks seemed too difficult to machine piece so I had become a bit stuck with this quilt.

I learnt that the the pinning is very important. Love those small applique clover pins. When I started doing this on the bus on Friday I ended up with pins in my jacket sleeve so that I could easily keep pinning and unpinning. I need to get one of those wrist pin-cushions!

The way you need to open up and unfurl the seams and points on the wrong side is also something I'm learning.

I am happy with how this is turning out so far and I can see how addictive hand piecing can become. Now I don't know why I baulked at the thought of it for so long?

Here are some of my Morrell quilt blocks that I machine pieced...

I also did some playing with fabric for the 2nd block from the Chester County Criswell quilt - 'Elizabeth Cowan' , using leftovers from the Morrel. I'm going to use blue instead of green and add bits of yellow/cheddar when I can.

I did some more playing with fabric for my 12 Days of Christmas quilt. I got these ....

...down to these fabrics...

for the 7 swans...

Then my light globe died so I couldn't quite finish prepping this block but hey I've got plenty to work on with these 3 projects and others that I haven't admitted to yet.
Cheers
Carole