I have had more questions once again on how am I hand piecing Joseph’s Coat. If you are new to hand piecing or just thinking of it – I know it can be daunting to begin. But really you basically hand piece the same as you would machine piece – but maybe slower 
You lay your pieces out and pin in place – then get busy and sew. Here are some step by steps.
1- this is the piece that I already had done last night. It is just finger pressed – I haven’t gotten the iron out yet.
2 – starting a new segment – place them on the felt in the way they will look when done. If you think you will get confused and get things out of order take a photo with your digital camera and you can always go back and look – isn’t technology great
3- Pin one melon at a time to the background pieces. I use quarter inch masking tape to be my seam guide (yes I originally used Inklingo and printed my fabric out on freezer paper but I found it took more time – for squares and such I would use Inklingo though if I felt like it – these curves though work well like this) Some swear by Inklingo for hand piecing and although it does work well I find taking the time to prep takes more time than the way I have always done hand piecing.
4 – stitch along the tape using a running stitch – occasionally take a back stitch to make the seam stronger. For hand piecing I use this stick on thimble to help protect my finger – you can go without or with any kind of thimble that you like.
5- when I get done with a seam I can use this stick on thimble to help finger press my seam – for the melons it is advised on the Inklingo site to press towards the melon so that is what I am doing.
6- I keep finger pressing as I finish each seam – when I get done with all the segments I get the iron out and press with seam and then again when I finish a whole row.
7- this segment is now complete – it took me 30 minutes to hand piece this while I was watching the news and snapping photos as I went.
8- The two segments that I now have done for this row. I just placed them like this so you can see how they fit together. I will just stack them one on top of another in the box and when I get the whole row of segments done I will piece the row together and then join it to the big part of the quilt already done.
I hope this helps you all who are thinking of hand piecing. If you have never hand pieced can I suggest that you try something easier than curves to begin. Try a simple 4 patch block to get the hang of how to hold the pieces while stitching and go from there in your adventure to hand piece a quilt
Finally I got back to Joseph’s Coat today – I thought I would work on Star Crazy but other than 5 or 10 minutes of quilting I didn’t do it! Just didn’t feel like it.
I have been busy cutting pieces off and on today and I have enough ready to get started on another diagonal row. The darkest color on the left is what I left off with on the last row, I think there are four pieces and I will use them up first and then continue to the middle color.
Ready to pin – while I was getting this next layout ready I realized I had not sewn my black circles on the last row I had put on – I had been so out of routine the last two weeks with my mom having been sick and then getting her ready to move I had forgotten where I left off!
Pinned loosely into sections to start sewing – this is from the very top of the row stacked to the bottom.
I’m not positive but I think one more long diagonal row is needed before I start to square off – or do you say rectangle off 
I think it will be a little longer than wide. I will figure that out after all of this gets sewed together and attached. Next up is purples/lavenders!
I just heard from my sister and she is pretty sure we move mom on Wednesday – she will find out for sure in the morning. The place is small and we have quite a few helping so we might be able to get the move done and the clean up of the old apartment all done on that one day – I hope so. We are all ready for this just to be done and so is mom. I think mom is ready to get into her new routine as well and get settled – moving at 87 years old is unsettling I think.
by Karen on February 27, 2012
in quilts
Head on over to Judy at Patchwork Times to see what everyone this nice Monday is working on.
I think I will work on Star Crazy – I haven’t spent much time working on hand quilting lately. If I get tired of that I might take a break and cut pieces for the next row of Joseph’s Coat.
I have this section of Star Crazy marked and ready to quilt. When I get done with this section I will be at the middle of this “row” I am so glad to be almost to the half way point of this quilt. It is always a good feeling to have a quilt half way done.
So what are you working on today?
by Karen on February 26, 2012
in quilts
Home sweet home. I got home about 4:30, Mike took me out to supper shortly afterwards and I haven’t even unpacked my bag yet – I will get to that shortly!
I didn’t have much sewing time as I thought. I was so busy. We packed up things for goodwill. We packed up things to throw in the trash – we packed up bags of paper to be shredded. Wow and we barely made a dent!! My sister Mary and my brother Larry came over to help – maybe we were so busy looking through old photos and such that we didn’t get done with as much as we had hoped? We were totally exhausted by evening though and they went home and mom and I rested! This morning I was able to go through a little more and my brother came back over in time to carry the trash out – funny how that worked out 
The triangles grew a little bit – from this:
To this! 12 more triangles if I count right – who knows on that! I’m tired. Mom has gotten interested in this quilt now and wants to see the progress – I guess that means I have to keep making it
I found a site that has more free patterns!! New York Beauty paper piece blocks although of course you could always add a quarter inch seam allowance and hand piece or machine piece. Go here to see: site is called Ulas quilt page – a German blog. Some patterns you pay for, and some are free.
by Karen on February 26, 2012
in places
Scheduled post: In North Little Rock there is a really pretty Old Mill that is surrounded by a park. We visited our daughter on Thursday and before we headed home we stopped at the park to take a walk and I wanted to take some photos to share.
In the opening scene of the movie “Gone with the Wind”featuring Scarlett O’Hara back in the civil war days – the opening scene is the Old Mill. This is the center piece of the park.
A beautiful swan and ducks.
You can imagine in another month or so when all the leaves on the trees start and the flowering trees and bushes come in how pretty it is.
A close up of the swan
Camellia’s in bloom.
Daffodils
Looking down at the water wheel from the top floor of the mill.
Another scheduled post. To get some exercise the other day I went back to working on clearing out the brush on the far side of the upper right side of the front of the property.
I started this last month with the intention of working on it almost every day – then the weather intervened, got too wet, then got too chilly – and then life just plain got in the way. I did some work on it yesterday – made progress too. In Arkansas we get so many trees growing – just way too many – too many prickly vines too. I need to get some of those long leather gloves that people use for trimming their roses.
Here is one view – this is my brush pile that Mike will need to help me move to where he burns things – it is too close to the trees here.
Here you can see a tangle of things growing thickly. I get my hedge clippers out and start cutting trees off at the bottom level to the ground if I can. I want to be able to take my riding lawnmower in through here in the summer time to keep it level to the ground. There is a dead tree in there on the ground also – half rotten but needs to be moved too.
That green thing in there is some kind of woody vine. It is thick and I am having to cut it in numerous pieces so I can get it out of there, it is wrapped around the dead tree and prickly vines are caught up in and around it.
When I get a lot of the over growth cleared out I would like to get this “ditch” cleared out also. It has filled in so much with pine needles over the years that it is no longer as deep as it once was. Also trees have grown in it and have blocked the path of the run of water from storms and so it flows out into the yard.
Another photo to show how thick the undergrowth is in places – can’t get the lawn mower in through here! Lots of poison ivy – I wear long pants, long sleeve shirts and gloves – Mike is allergic to the stuff – I have never had a reaction – but really I don’t know if I have just been lucky or what. I will continue to take all of my precaution’s and watch where I touch and what I wear.
From the porch looking out towards the area the above photos are taken at. Behind the row of shrubbery and cedar tress – those will stay for privacy – I just want to be able to keep the brush out.
My quilting has been suffering the past several weeks as I have been running helping out with my mom. I have gotten a little done but not a lot. I am scheduling several post for the weekend as I will most likely be too busy to post. I might squeeze in one with a photo of progress of the triangles but most likely not a lot else. I will be at moms Friday to Sunday.
I have been taking photos though so will share some of what I have been doing this week while I have been home.
First up Joseph’s Coat. I got the latest row sewed on it the past two nights! Progress. I will get back to work on this one next week or the following I’m sure – as soon as we get mom settled in her new place. It’s growing isn’t it. Across the bottom it now measures 90 inches or there about. I want it to be at least 100 inches and then it will start to get squared up.
I need to get the black circles made for this last row – but I will do that next week. Another angle – I wonder if I will have room for all of the colors I wanted in it! I have a feeling I will run out of space – maybe I will need to make it into a king size quilt and get a new bed 
The next colors. I’m sure as I get going I will have to leave more colors out of the stack waiting for me to use – I just won’t have room for all of them. I think I have 6 in the purple family alone.
Next post – stuff about the yard.
Yum – doesn’t that sound good!! While I had a couple days to chill out before I head back to NW Arkansas Friday after lunch to be with my mom again for a couple days I have been relaxing. What better way than to make some homemade goodies and stuff my face! 
I was looking at the Pioneer Woman’s blog and from there went to the Tasty Kitchen and found the recipe for Buttery Soft Glazed Raisin Pretzels – I have some dried Cherries in the house so I used those instead – so glad I did they were wonderful. Follow the link on the name of the recipe and I’m not going to type it in! All I changed was dried cherries instead of raisins.
The recipe only makes 8 but they are good size – brush the tops with melted butter and then drizzle on some frosting while they are hot. Better than fat greasy doughnuts – these are baked in the oven – no added fat to the recipe, just flour, yeast, a dab of sugar and salt and water. I haven’t a clue on the calories with the butter and frosting on the top – but yummy!
I know mine kind of lost the pretzel shape – I’ll try harder next time
I am scheduling this post for Thursday – I will be in Little Rock for the day. I have my six month check up which is routine for the medications I take to keep the muscle disease under control – no problems – just routine — all that blood work you know. And it is our older daughters 39 birthday – Melanie works in North Little Rock and couldn’t get the day off we will see her for a late lunch/early supper she can meet us at 4 in the afternoon. It is supposed to be a great day weather wise – up to 78 degrees in the city.
Doubtful I will get any sewing done today – I will post from my mom’s at some point over the weekend. I always bring the computer with me and I have wireless connection from my phone. My way of relaxing.
by Karen on February 22, 2012
in quilts
I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t linked up to Lee At Freshly Pieced for the works in progress Wednesday. I thought I would before I forgot about!
Last night and again today I will work on attaching my diagonal row on the Joseph’s Coat quilt – right now it is about a third of the way done as I just haven’t had time for it!
This is where I got up to last night when I quit for the evening.
I also stitched a little bit on Star Crazy yesterday afternoon and will get to that a little bit today for some relaxation time.
Both of these projects will be worked on today and the triangles will be worked on this weekend when I go back to my mom’s. We will start boxing things for Goodwill on Saturday – haven’t a clue if I will even get around to sewing but maybe in the evening when it will be just mom and I. It looks like her move will be at the end of the month – times flies when you busy.
I have been asked how does English Paper Piecing work with glue sticks?
1 – Cut out your shape – I am using my rotary cutting that is on the turntable so I can leave in place and keep the fabric in one spot. I put my template on a small stack of fabric
2 – put your ruler over the fabric and the templates, leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance on all sides.
3 – place your template in the center, leaving the seam allowance.
4 – I use Fons & Porter wash out glue stick – (refills available in 2 packs)
5- Run your glue stick lightly on the edge of the template or on the edge of the fabric – it works the same no matter which area. Then finger press your seam over the template.
6 – all 3 sides are pressed over – leave the tails on is what it says in the book. I imagine it is ok to trim slightly but you don’t want too much cut off – they can be taken care of later -
7 – Get enough back in my box to have enough to work on next time I run out of town 
I also have in my plastic work bag, my rotary cutter, the glue and refills, pins if needed. I also have my sewing needles, threader, the paper templates, scissors and the ruler. Right now I have about 30 or 40 neutral triangles cut out and about the same in the colors with more colors stacked up to be cut. I need to go through scraps and find some more neutrals to put in there as well.
Seeing as I really don’t have that much idle time at moms I’m sure this well be enough once again on the weekend. Now when we travel again I will make sure to have a lot of pieces cut in advance I think so it would be enough to keep me busy for weeks on end and also have a second project for variety.
I hope this little demo helps those that asked. Now if you want to thread baste instead – find someone else if you use the glue though – use it lightly and shouldn’t be a problem!
