Piece by piece… and a Giveaway

Have I told you how much I love hand-piecing?


I fell for Kellie’s Joseph’s Coat Quilt as soon as I saw her quilt along last year. Everything about it excited me. Those elegant curved orange peel segments, the intersecting circles so easy on the eye, and her fabrics – oh, her fabrics! Kaffe Fassett and friends, I love your work! Kellie's quilt is simply drop-dead gorgeous!

However I simply didn’t have a vacancy in my life for another hand project at the time.

This year most of us in the English Quilt group have decided it’s time to make the Joseph’s Coat Quilt – but with a fundamental difference. Kellie’s quilt is predominantly hand-appliqueed, while our quilts will be hand pieced.
 

For once procrastination has worked in our favour because in the meantime we’ve heard a few reports of the difficulty of getting all those appliqueed points to meet. A few perfectionists (you know who you are!) have been discouraged by the challenge of closing the hole at the centre of the spokes.

So we've decided hand piecing is the way to go, using accurately-cut purchased templates.


Let me hasten to tell you this method is not without its own challenges! However I’m gradually learning tricks for accuracy with each circle block I complete (I've almost finished my 4th).

This block is quite an old design, variously referred to as Joseph’s Coat, Tea Leaves and Orange Peel, and purchased templates take some of the stress out of fitting the pieces together.

 
Are you as much a fan of hand-piecing as I am? Perhaps you fancy a set of Drunkard’s Path templates?
 
Linda is having a giveaway on her blog, so pop on over before Sunday 13th and join the fun. The templates have been donated by Baycreek Quilting and looking at their website I feel like a kid in a candy store :-))