The Art of Hand Quilting…

A few friends out in blog land were asking questions about the hand quilting process, so let me show you what has been happening to my Snowball Quilt.  Last week I showed you how it was tacked onto a frame and was basted into place.  This week we started to hand stitch the top, batting and backing together. I made a template to mark where I want the hand quilters to stitch.  I cut the template from the plastic lid of an ice cream container (its the blue thing in the picture).  Because the fabric is so dark we are using slivers of soap to mark the fabric..YES SOAP!  Normal folk toss out the little sliver of soap left from the bath…well not hand quilters…we use it for marking.  Works great and is VERY easy to remove- just rub it off.

Here Linda uses the soap to mark where she is going to stitch next. Bev is stitching in the ditch.  If you click on this picture you will see that the needle goes in straight and then she uses her thimble to rock little stitches through the fabric.  Everyone wants Bev on her quilt as she does gorgeous work!

If you look closely, you can see that this snowball is almost done.  See what a great job the soap does at marking the fabric.  And when your finished, your hands smell wonderful!  A bonus!

Elaine brought in her finished quilt -with binding done. She is off to New Zealand as the quilt is going to be a wedding gift for her niece and future hubby.  We hand quilted this huge quilt earlier this year.  I wish you could see the stitching as it is magnificent!  A very intricate daisy design on the flowered fabric.

And finally, this is what I started last night - a little fall table runner.  I used cotton flannel for the back ground and wool felt for the cornflowers, which are just placed where I am planning to stitch them down.   I am off to Lynette Anderson’s blog as she gave a tutorial on a two step blanket stitch, which I really want to try.

IT’S A GOOD THING- A big THANK YOU to Gail Pan! She has finished A Christmas Wish and it is absolutely gorgeous!  Every week she has been giving away a stitchery block that goes into this wall hanging.  What a generous gift, to give away all the blocks and finishing instructions.  So again, THANK YOU GAIL!!  To see it finished makes me want to get out my Christmas fabric bins….but first I must finish this cornflower runner…and the shirt quilt….and quilt the baby quilt……Hey, how did I get all these UNFINISHED projects….where’s KIM when I need her???

So have a thrilling Thursday and Happy Quilting…which is just what I am going to do!