When the mood strikes I hand piece and handquilt. I love Inklingo for hand piecing and I've been using it for machine piecing too. The Inklingo will be in Hunter Star pattern soon!

Thanks for all the great ideas. I have thought about hand quilting but I'm not sure my hands will let me do it but I am inspired to at least try. I have the same problems with managing my time. I don't know how I got things done when I worked because I can't seem to now. I must need structure (which is funny because at work I was on my own to set my schedule and get my work done on time). This summer we moved to a house where I had a sewing room and I found I didn't like going there because I felt away from everyone. So I took over most of the dining room and I'm getting more done.

I hope you get started whether it be handpiecing/quilting or going with machine piecing/quilting. I love hand work and machine work. Just depends on my mood, I guess. Enjoy--

I love hand sewing, but I also love my sewing machine. So as alderweller said, "Why in the world can't I do both." There is something about hand sewing that is restorative for me. When I finish a project that I hand sewed I feel like I have really created something. There are so many things that I can do with my machine that I wouldn't tackle by hand, but just sewing the binding on a quilt is fulfilling. I'd really like to get better at hand quilting and I have Jinny Beyer's book so...

I love the look of handquilted items, and find that I am more proud of those projects than the ones I do on the machine. In all fairness, the quilts I have made by machine have to endure more everyday wear and tear...definitely the way to go for them. Most evenings my family gathers to watch shows on TV and I find that I get quite a bit accomplished by hand piecing/quilting. Also very practical for road trips or waiting in offices for appointments! With our busy lives these days, a lot of people want it done "yesterday" and machine sewing is the answer in those cases. However, I think doing projects by hand keeps a dying technique alive and helps us to truly appreciate what past quilters accomplished long long ago.