Hand Piecing Anyone?

We have all become so accustomed to our sewing machines with the various "bells and whistles", me included.  It isn't until you are not able to get to it that you begin to come up with ways to continue stitching without relying on your, Pfaff, Bernina, Janome, Juki, Elna and what have you.

I recently suffered a fall that resulted in a broken fibula.  Off my feet for at least two weeks with an air cast; can't put any weight on it; gotta continue in the same cast for an additional 6 weeks after that.  Great! and I had so many plans for finishing all those WIPs sitting under the sewing table.

While sitting on my couch I spied a bin with colourful Kaffe Fassett fabrics, a pattern book by Jen Kingwell titled Circle Game.  Ah Ha!!!  This was supposed to be one of my bucket list items; completely hand piecing a quilt top.  Look at this; I even started cutting some of the templates.  So I started the first one.

I'm doing the circle portion of all the blocks first.  Once all 16 are done, I'll do the surrounds and then the borders.  Say this hand piecing isn't so bad, and I can still get some stitching enjoyment.  Oh look here is the second one.

May as well keep going.  Block 3 looks like the same construction more or less.  What do you think of the colours on this one?

Okay this next one is a bit more fussy.  Hmmmmm....done!!

Oh not quite.  Still need to add an applique circle for the centre.  I'll get that tomorrow.  This next one has got some inset seams which should be relatively easy.  Done!!!

Well that was a productive two days.  Tomorrow is another day.  Thank you for stopping by and having a peek.  Let me know your thoughts or if you have completed this pattern.

Looking back to move forward

This seems to be the time when people tend to look back over the past year to see what has been accomplished and take a clue from that pondering to move forward.  So I thought I may as well do the same.  Hmmmm....to say "it's been a while since I posted here" would be to a gross understatement.   I mean, OMG!! the last time I posted here was November 2016.  Where did the time go?  Well, let's see what's been going on since then.

I've finished the fabric collage I posted about here.  This is what it looks like.

I've also been working on some "shimmer" quilts, a technique developed by Jenny Bowker and Jinny Beyer.  Here is my first one, but it still needs to be quilted.

I tried a second one with different fabrics and a setting "in the round".  As you can see this picture shows it at the piecing stage.

It is now sewn together and waiting to be sandwiched and quilted.  But there are other things that I've been working on and finishing.  There is this little wall hanging based on the book Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier.  

It was given as a "thank you" to a corporate sponsor of a gallery where I volunteer.  It's my imaginary Tuscan Village.

The art group I belong to spent time working on a project for Canada's 150th birthday.  It required the use of specific techniques and was created in sections that eventually were joined together in some fashion.  Mine looked like this and I called it Longitude 141° W to 52° W

It, along with 9 others, was displayed at Lake Country's Art Walk last year.  My artist statement read:

Canada is vast, abundant and diverse, and celebrates its 150-year birthday this year.  I chose to portray its wildlife diversity interspersed with other symbols associated with Canada.  For the west coast, a salmon; for the east coast, a puffin; for the north, a polar bear and inukshuk.  Represented by the green, red, brown and yellow triangles circling the puffin, is the Maple Leaf Tartan, Canada’s official tartan.  All are linked together by Canada’s maple leaf and motto, “A Mari Usque Ad Mare”, from Sea to Sea.  I love my home. 

Then there was some finishing of "flimsies" that had been sitting around for quite some time.  Finishing these gave me an opportunity to do some much needed FMQ practice.

Trip for 2 to Boston

This one in particular had been sitting around for a l-o-n-g time.  I had posted about the construction here.  Yup you read that right...6 years ago.

And to round out the finishes, a few community care quilts.

Now it's a new year and it's time to get some new projects on the go.