I’m away in the Lake District this weekend but last week I finally managed to get myself organised and started quilting my owl and hare hollow quilt.

Three weeks ago I was still trying to decide whether or not to add borders, compounded by difficulty in finding a ‘perfect match’ fabric! After showing the quilt to my daughter we decided it was big enough and design wise it didn’t need them, so I was then free to get started on it.

For backing I’d already bought some ivory cotton. It was standard width cotton so it needed a seam down the middle. I quite like adding a strip of fabric down the seam, it adds a bit of interest to the back and makes a feature of having a seam, rather than trying to hide it. I decided to use some of the William Morris fabric I bought a while ago, I intended to use this as a border but it just looked too busy, but perfect for a 6″ strip down the back. I needed two strips to get the length, but if I say so myself, I’m pretty impressed with my pattern matching! I had to feel the fabric to find the seam for the photo!!

I sandwiched the quilt last weekend and started hand quilting it on an evening. I’m basically doing lots of circles in cream/ ivory quilting cotton. Each square will have a circle round the basic design which is about 7″ across. I’m then stitching further circles inside depending on the design of the block. I’m also planning to do a larger circle round each block which will include the width of the sashing, so these will overlap down the sashing. I’m also thinking of a circle round each meeting point of four squares which will touch each of the 7″ circles.

At the moment I’m using embroidery hoops as circle templates, though I think I might cut out a 7″ circle in an 8″ square to make the regular circle easier to centralise. I’m working on the fifth square just 42 to go and that’s just the initial circles in the blocks!

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie