Hand Piecing Progress

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy hand piecing? Yes, I suppose I have. I know that machine piecing is the way to go when I want to finish something fast, but there is a certain calming and relaxing feeling that comes over me when I slow down to sit with a project in my lap, a needle in my hand, and fabric coming together in a slow, methodical and peaceful way.

Here are the blocks I made while riding to and from the OSU game in Minneapolis.

I have quite a stack of these now, and in the new year I suppose I should come up with a use for them. I have a few ideas brewing in the back of my mind, so I doubt it will be too difficult to make a decision.

Another UFO that I have been working on is an ages-old hand-pieced star quilt. Just look at how far I am on this quilt. Why does a person just quit on something when she is so far along to finishing?

I began this quilt in the late 1990s, when our son was in high school and we were attending track and cross country meets all the time. Projects like this were so easy for me to take to meets and work on while waiting for events. I did a lot of them over the years.

I think I remember why I stopped working on this. I was stymied as to how to finish the edges. I couldn't bear the thought of whacking off those beautiful stars that I'd so carefully stitched together. After all this time, I think I can do it now. The picture above is of a long side, and I will just straighten by cutting off the one point on each star.

The trouble comes with the top and bottom edges. They are a good bit more uneven, as you can see above. I am still pondering the issue. In the time I've not worked on this, my templates went missing. I spent a big part of Tuesday digging and rooting through boxes and bins looking for them. I ended up just drafting new ones--I never did find my originals. They will show up sometime.

Here's an update on the computer situation. I  am learning a new laptop; the HP died, and I have a Dell now and all my regular programs are not loaded on yet. It's aggravating, isn't it? We take our computers for granted, and then when they go haywire, we are simply lost without them!  What dependents we are!

Happy Quilting, Friends!