Matching Pegs

Here is my brand new project, with a new-to-me technique, hand-piecing.

I am lucky enough to be heading off to “sewing camp” as Michaela calls it, next weekend, (also know as the annual retreat for our quilting guild).  Due to space restrictions, I thought this year I should concentrate on hand work, and let others have more space for their sewing machines.  I do plan to take my machine, to hopefully fit in sewing a skirt, but I will probably use one of the dining tables, and clear away at meal times.

The quilt I am making will be a “Wheel of Fortune Quilt” (from one of Kaffe Fasset’s books) which Cathy (Cabbage Quilting) has made twice, and single-handedly inspired me to give it a crack.  The quilt is made with alternating rings of diamonds and squares, each ring being made in a different colour.  That pile of fabric you can see (above) is made up of the fabrics I plan to use, but as the larger rings need up to 88 diamonds (if my maths in correct – I don’t have a book to follow) I may have to change my plans.  I may not have enough of the required fabrics per colour, but because I am winging it, I will only find out as I go.

Here are my homemade templates.  You may be able to see the little tag “handles” that I made for them, by sticking on a bit of sticky-tape, with the centre stuck to itself, (clear as mud huh?).  My accuracy is a bit iffy, because I was aiming to make the templates with 3″ long sides, but they are a fraction longer.  It will be okay though, because the sides on the squares and diamonds match each other.

I have been using the heat-erasable “frixion pen”, I mentioned in my previous post, to mark the sewing lines.  This means I am avoiding pressing the piecing that I have already done, as it will make the lines disappear.  I am a bit nervous about how I will eventually go pressing this quilt, because of all the tricky intersections, particularly the one in the centre.

I have one other new project to hand-sew on retreat, but I will show you that another day.

Have you been hand-piecing recently?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 31st, 2011 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Designed by Another, Made by Me, Work in Progress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.