Good Friday Morning! I hope you've had a good week, and that you're enjoying some nice weather where you are! We had a beautiful weekend after some rough storms here. I spent part of the weekend outside snipping roses and tending to the flower garden and part of it inside working on a patriotic sampler quilt.
I had hoped to make this sampler into a quilt pattern to sell. After making the top, I realized that may not happen. There are 27 blocks in this quilt, most of them different. I took good notes while I sewed and cut fabric. However, the instructions for each block are tedious. I'm not convinced a pdf (digital version) of this pattern is the best plan of action, since it wound wind up being 20-30 pages of instructions, diagrams, and pictures. The buyer would need to print all those pages out. I probably could make this quilt in book form, and I may do that still, but it wouldn't make a full booklet, either. I do have a friend who wants to make the pattern, so it would be for her if I made it up! =}
The photo above is of some of my favorite blocks, the applique flower and the braid block! It's really a very easy process to make that braid, so I'm looking forward to trying it on other quilts, perhaps as a border? I made these blocks in a specific order to use fabric from fat quarters and use them almost all up! I like wise use of fabric, so that appealed to me from the start! The braid block was made last, since it uses scraps from the other blocks. I pieced part of the quilt in order to make sure the math was right for that braid block before I began! It was super fun to quilt as well.
My next quilty goal is to finish the hand quilting on this sampler. As the very hot weather comes along this summer, I'll need an indoor chore to work on, and this will do nicely! I don't machine sew much over the summer, since the iron adds to the heat and draws lots of energy. My guild also has an open sew day, where it will be good to take this project to work on it. I've finished about a third of the quilting, which is almost half! If I spend a little time each day hand quilting, it will get quilted!
I'm surprised at the way hand quilting gets faster as you practice. A sweet older friend gave me a good hand quilting lesson last year, and I felt like something finally clicked for me. I had been hand quilting poorly for a long time, but with her lesson, I was able to make smaller, more even stitches, and increase speed. It really is an art that is easy to learn in person and defies most modern learning techniques. I love YouTube to learn a new skill, or books, or blogs. But many of those forms of learning are not the best for teaching hand quilting. I hope this art doesn't die out!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend! I pray that each of you stays safe, and that you're able to accomplish good goals for the week ahead!
Stacy
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