Nana McIntyre's Quilt

Way back in the late 1800s, Mrs McIntyre's grandparents made a quilt, hand stitched like the one above, but from old soldier's uniforms. I'm assuming by 'grandparents', we mean them both, not just Betty McIntyre's Grandmother. According to the book Australia's Quilts, by Jenny Manning, where I found this treasure, The quilt was made in England, and probably came to Australia when they immigrated here.

This quilt is everything I need in a project right now. My sewing room has been REALLY COLD and motivation for sitting at my sewing machine has been low. I needed a change of pace, or head space. And apart from basting hexes to machine appliqué to another quilt, I had run out of hand-stitching projects. When Beth from Stash Fabrics asked me a little while ago if I could participate in a Kona Solids Blog Hop, I was heading straight into my project overwhelm. But the deadline was still a way off, and I loved the idea of curating a bundle for her shop, so I agreed. Then, when I received the bundle a couple of weeks ago, a solution struck me! I could scrap the quilt I was planning, and use these beauties for a hand-stitched quilt. More time by the fire, easy to take on holidays at the end of the month, and then when I was keen for some machine time, I could work on Red Sky or my terribly late bee blocks. (Ahem).

I won't be writing a tutorial or pattern for this one, but I'm very happy to share the details with you if you'd like to make your own. I'm just copying the picture of the original below exactly, though obviously my colour choices are very different. Isn't it amazing? I love that it starts in the centre and works its way out. This is my pressure-free project so I'm going to let myself finish the quilt top when I've had enough. I hope I get to the end! I haven't done any maths to work out what size templates were used originally, so I might end up with a monster. And I haven't figured out what yardage I'll need. Every so often you (I) just need to go with the flow.

I started with a 1" hexagon (that is, with 1" sides), and then added 2" jewel shapes. These were sold to me as 2" Jewels because the longest edge is 2", but some people sell them as 1" because they go around a 1" hexagon. Just a warning! The diamonds are 2" diamonds for a 6 pointed star, and the large hexagons also 2".

I've found it tricky to attach already formed flowers to the growing top, but easy when I just stitch one piece at a time, round by round. If I just keep moving around the next border, I can use a long line of thread and not have to snip it constantly and start a new seam. I hope that makes sense?

I've been keeping everything, including some matching prints from stash, clover clips, embroidery scissors, needle and thread, and templates in this little basket. And I've got yardage of this Sweetwater print with quilt block names to hopefully tide the fat quarters over. Though, as you can see, I haven't used it liberally yet. I just love colour too much!
It's been an interesting exercise in realising the gaps in my stash. I have just scraps of gold, let over from fat quarter packs, but nothing that matches Kona Gold exactly. And that light blue Jacks by Melody Miller is the only really pale icy blue I own. I don't really use solids much, so I'm having lots of fun making a nearly solid quilt, but still trying to create that scrappy, moving feel I love.

Oh boy, I'm having fun!

And though I'm assuming the makers weren't actually called the McIntyres, because it was passed down the Betty Mcintyre, their married granddaughter, I've tagged it #NanaMcIntyresQuilt on Instagram, if you'd like to follow my progress or stitch along!