OUT with the OLD & IN with the NEW !!

I hope this finds all of you healthy & happily ready to say "goodbye" to 2015 & welcome a new year!  I just know that 2016 will prove to be an onward & upward year for all!

On to the quilting . . . Today I am very thankful for my machine quilters!!  I count my blessings to send my quilts off for machine quilting.  There would be many, many non-quilted tops folded up in my closets if there were no machine quilters close by!  

But now, hand piecing has slowly but gradually worked it's way into my quilting life &, surprising to me, is becoming one of my most relaxing quilting past times.   

ARDCO templates

Friendship Ring quilt

Hand piecing or in other words "Peaceful Quilting"

is my new joy & challenge!  

It all began with the Friendship Ring quilt & ARDCO templates! 

Friendship Ring block from the
Flying Geese fabric collection

        Then I played with more of the blocks in various fabrics of the Flying Geese & Friendship Ring collections.

Another version
of the Friendship Ring block with the
Friendship Ring fabric collection

This block to the left is a scrappy version with a little different fabric arrangement.  

Also fun!!

Patchwork Sunburst with indygo/cheddar
Manassas Junction collection

Playing with the strike-offs from the NEW Manassas Junction collection, I hand pieced a sunburst block!  

18 pieces each of 3 fabrics per block! 

The templates are in a lovely book  "Quilts from The Henry Ford" by Fons & Porter with Landauer Books, publishers.  I simply cut the plastic templates from the pattern & surprise - it worked!!  Went together & pressed flat!  Awesome! 

See the indygo/black/brick red/cheddar Manassas Junction Collection at P & B Textiles/Washington Street Studio/Manassas Junction !!

ARDCO hand piecing templates can be ordered at ARDCO Templates  or contact me at evonnecook@clotheslinequilts.com.

Making Progress!

We enjoyed such beautiful weather last week, & now it has changed to cold, windy days this week.  Such is our spring weather in Iowa.

Friendship Ring quilt block

Maybe it is a blessing in disguise . . . with the cold outside, it is much easier to stay inside & work on market projects & planning.  Hand piecing of the Friendship Ring blocks has progressed fabulously; in fact, the little quilt is at the quilter's & I am waiting for a call today!  Then it will progress to the photographer!

The blocks were really a joy to piece - only 8 full blocks, as pictured, + 6 side half blocks + 4 quarter corner blocks. And writing the pattern is going great, but, of course, you will need the set of Ardco templates to complete the quilt.

Template set for Friendship Ring quilt

I'll bet you hand piecers can easily see how the block goes together just by seeing the template set!

It really is a fun, fun block to hand piece - not for a beginning hand piecer, but very do-able.  This hand piecing was all new to me, but each block I did was an improvement over the last.  So, you can do it, too!

A few of the Thursday Girls have made a practice block & as soon as the new fabric comes, we'll be ready to challenge the quilt.  

Speaking of the new fabric, I snapped a few photos of the fabric cards to show you the Friendship Ring fabric.  

  

Go to P & B Textiles, Washington Street Studio to see the complete line!