I’m now two full weeks into this whole hand quilting thing and, sarcasm aside (No, really. Seriously, stop laughing.), am pretty happy with my progress and overall appearance of my work.
Of course, when I look at a picture of the entire thing and see just how big it is and how much quilting my hands will be doing, I get slightly nauseous. Have I mentioned patience isn’t my forte?
But I’m having a good time and, really, isn’t that the point? I even have company and, heaven knows, having a dog in your lap just makes the whole process sooo much easier.
My entire focus is on getting this thing quilted and moving on. My focus ISN’T on how I get the quilting done. Meaning: I don’t ‘rock the needle’. Purists tsk and occasionally give me a pained smile. I get the same look when I say something off color and slightly obnoxious. It’s quite fun. 😏. Sorry, but thimbles aren’t my friends and I was focusing more on needle and thimble and not jamming anything under my fingernails than actual quilting which was very frustrating. Please don’t tell me I’ll get the hang of it. My father thought the same thing about teaching me to drive a stick shift. No, thanks.
I try to work a bit every night. Hockey playoffs mean I have to pay extra attention to keep my stitches even and still manage to scream and gesticulate at the TV. I’m nothing if not a multitasker. In my last post, I asked other quilters what they listen to while working away on their projects. Let me just say that a steamy romance on audio is not the way to go. There’s just something slightly hinky about hearing someone simulate sounds and say certain words aloud if’n you get mah drift. Hello, is it hot in here?!
Onward…
Here’s a close up of a block. The slight gathering of the fabric really makes the petals pop although my perfectionist tendencies have my gut clenching that the block isn’t smooth and flat.
As a side note and to my surprise, look what got a shout out on Quilter’s World Facebook page. Squeal!
Holy crap!
In the end, I am having a rocking good time. See what I did there? Ahem.
I may just be a hand quilting convert.
I may also be insane.
My Imperfect Life 
Such patience! It’s looking great. Definitely a labour of love.
Loud thumping music pumped directly into my ear canals really helps.
Insane is my vote but don’t take it personally 🙂 Enjoy
They say the patient is always the last to know, but that’s the way I’m leaning, too.
Hand quilting is addictive so be warned you may find more and more quilts that NEED to be quilted! Great job keep going!
I’ve already found myself thinking of all the quilt tops in need of quilting. I may be hopelessly hooked. Thanks for stopping by, Janet!
I have projects of my own I am thinking of and dreading. Patience is not my forte either…. You do you though, don’t let the purists get ya down! 🙂
I’ve done a little hand quilting…not enough to get hooked completely. But those really special quilts, like a top from my grandmother…yeah, that gets my best hand quilting. It makes no difference that her hand piecing was pretty bad because of her arthritis. It’s the love that matters!
Most of my quilts are machine quilted because I know they’re going to get used like crazy. I do like the peace inherent in the rhythm of hand quilting. Then again, that could be the Xanax talking.
I’m hand-quilting my first quilt, too. !!! I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying it. Honestly I started it because it’s a free-form medallion using ethnic (that means not euro-white, right?) and ethnically-inspired fabrics, and I couldn’t imagine how I would machine-quilt it and be happy. So I’m using 2 strands of embroidery thread and big, fat stitches, and taking comfort that the current big-stitch trend will protect me from criticism on my terrible technique. But in fact it looks great! And it’s sorta fun! YAY us!! 🙂
I like the big stitch technique. I’d love to see it when it’s finished!
I will post about it. At this pace, it will be another couple of weeks!
The quilt is lovely, so even if you are insane you’ll have a nice legacy 😉