I've machine pieced and machine quilted but now I want to try my hand at hand piecing and hand quilting. Being a newbie to 'Hand' anything what would you expert hand quilters suggest be my first pattern.. ??

Please no hexagon.. Scary thought for me.. :shock:

Oh and by all means post a pic of your hand quilted quilts.. I hope one day to be as great as you all are.. :thumbup: So brag away, you deserve it.. Tell us the pattern, how many hours (or years it took) and who was the quilt made for..

I love to alternate plain blocks with pattern blocks so I have a nice block to showcase a design. I'll try to get a pic for you.
As for time, that's hard to say b/c I hand quilt whenever I can and don't keep track. I always have a project going.
You will get lots more info from others! :D
Hand quilting is so relaxing for me.

I too like to have big open plain areas for handquilting. Usually in pieced areas I tend to quilt 1/4" from the seam and save the open squares for the "fancy" designs. Samplers work really well for that because you usually get some nice open spaces along with pieced spaces to do a little of both straight line and curved quilting.

So just about any pattern works well for handquilting if you have some open blocks or open area to quilt with no seams. I have never hand pieced but I am working a hand applique project right now.

Edited to add, plain fabric that is solid or reads almost solid like a marble or blender show off the quilting the most. Printed fabric your stitches are often not as visible.

Edited again to add link to pictures of my current HQ WIP. I have been working on this for almost 3 years now. http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-47093-1.htm

Hope to have a picture soon--but the reversible wall hanging for my daughter took well over 500 hours....and it is just about 36 x 45...it took nine years, as I had a wreck just after I started it, and could not use my hands to sew for quite a while.
For an easy pattern, look at Georgia Bonesteel's books. She has some that are pretty simple. You could do a rail fence or log cabin, or attic windows.....
Lucy's Locket is pretty, too--have you been to Quilter's Cache?
Hole in the Barn Door is another.

I quilted this quilt for the Cancer walk raffle. I did not make the quilt. This is my favorite easy design just large interlocking circles. Hope you can get the idea from this picture

This is one that I'm 95% done with.

It's hard to recommend a block for hand piecing. I choose blocks that I know I will totally screw up if I do it by machine - how's that for an answer?? I wouldn't hand piece something like a log cabin or nine patch because I know I would be bored.

Like the others, I leave lots of open space for hand quilting, but if you've never hand quilted before, you might enjoy quilting 1/4 inch away from each seam.

Janet

The first block I handpieced was a drunkards path, they are very easy to sew. The curves go very smoothly, I marked the back to keep my seams accurate and they went together beautifully. Much easier than my first attempts on the machine LOL :D:D:D

My first quilt was a double irish chain. Easy to piece although I did machine piece that one. Hand quilted. In the ditch and then roses is various colors in the open blocks. Next was a hand pieced tumbling block quilt - which really was not bad to do at all - did basically english paper piecing with it - and hand quilted that 1/4 in. away from all the seams. Again, not bad to do at all. Just find a pattern and fabrics that you like, otherwise you'll more than likely not want to finish.

For hand piecing, I would suggest something simple with squares/rectangles. Trip around the world? Irish chain? Rail Fence? For hand quilting, start with straight lines. This allows you to use masking tape to quilt along and you don't have to find a method to mark quilting lines. Staight lines can be really nice in a grid patern or diamonds. The other option for quilting without marking is to follow the shape of your pieces (stitch in ditch) or quilt around the design in the fabric. Happy Quilting!