A Word About Hand Quilting, If You Please ...
May 25, 2012 
When I made my first quilt in the mid 80s (I was 19), I thought that a quilt was only a REAL quilt if it were ALL pieced AND quilted by hand. (Feel free to roll your eyes ... I won't be offended.)
The first two quilts I made were English paper-pieced hexagons ... and I didn't know how to hand quilt properly so I STAB STITCH hand quilted them all in the ditch ... I'd say several miles worth of thread. Remember I never exaggerate. (I also used polyester batting, backed one with a bed sheet and didn't know about binding ... but I digress.)
I realized if I wanted to make more than five quilts in my lifetime I was gonna have to figure out how to do this quilting thing faster ... enter straight line machine quilting. Regarding my 19 year old attitude, I'm proud to say I'd matured considerably.
I finally took a hand-quilting course in 2000 after I made a Baltimore Album quilt and felt it really needed to be hand quilted.
As I watched my needle-rocking technique improve dramatically over 16 blocks and was reminded how beautiful PROPER hand quilting looked, I regressed to my 19 year old obnoxious self and proclaimed I would NEVER again finish ANY of my quilts by machine. EVERRRRRR.
AHEM. Yeah, RIGHT! Enter motherhood 6 months later. I managed to finish 3 baby quilts by hand before obnoxious me finally shut up about hand quilting 11 years ago.
Fast forward to today. OmG do I ever hate how long it takes to hand quilt. And omG does it ever wreak havoc on my tendonitis.
But OMG do I ever LOVE the look of it! I can't help it. Call me a snob, I don't care. I will NEVER in a million years feel about machine quilting the same love I feel about hand quilting. Never.
Don't get me wrong. I highly respect longarm quilters and the very talented work they do. And I've seen countless machine, FMQed and long-armed quilts that are nothing short of breathtaking. I've hired several in the past and will continue to seek out and enjoy long-arm quilting on future quilts.
But I hold a very special place in my heart for tiny dimpled rows of stitches made by hand.
I would have machine-quilted this project too ... in a heartbeat ... because I was anxious to get it done and my wrist was hurting from the several consecutive days of embroidery and applique. But I really wanted to honour Amy's design and knew the embroidery would look a million times better if I bothered to hand quilt carefully underneath my stitchery.
So glad I did. :)
Reader Comments (35)
That is gorgeous. Beautifully done! Love the pink polka dot binding too!
I love your post!!!! and your quilt! Realizing that our 19 year old selves are not the people that we grew into is such a successful right of passage into adulthood. It took me forever to shut that girl up, but oh, the joy in knowing my 19 year old self helped me become me now ~ priceless. Good luck with your wrestling match and thank you for bringing the hugest smile to my face. I'm so very glad I'm not the only person that talks to herself:)
Lol! Love your sense of humor! The hand quilting is beautiful and does look so much better for this project than machine quilting would. It's so worth the time and discomfort.
LOVE the way you quilted under the embroidery!! really made it pop!! do you use a hoop/stand when you hand stitch a bed size quilt?
:-) Looking forward seeing this as a whole. Wonderful!
Kristyne, I can sooo relate to this post. I taught my self quilting after my second child was born 30 years ago. I was the ultimate hand piecing, hand quilting "snob". No machine was ever going to touch my quilts. During the making of a 1700 piece, hand pieced and quilted Storm At Sea quilt, I decided I needed to learn how to machine piece and quilt! A totally liberating feeling. The only other time I felt such liberation was the year my electric cookie gun died and I couldn't make the gazillion Christmas cookies I made in years past. My Mom tried to give me her cookie gun, said it was a family heirloom! LOL!
I enjoy reading your blog!
Denise
http://perchedonapincushion.blogspot.com/
I love how the hand quilting looks. The texture!! I am a machine quilter myself, but have done a little by hand. Cheers!
Not only do you have terrific talent in hand quilting, you also have great taste in fabric colors! Simply wonderful!
I have a Lone Star quilt to hand quilt and I have never hand quilted before. Your comments inspire me and I know it will look a zillion times better hand quilted.
I'm with you on this one - Hand Quilting all the way ! Beast machine quilting every day. Hand quilting is what it's all about, enjoying the process no matter how long it takes./