Originally Posted by Dragon223
You all are making it sound so wonderful to hand quilt. I bought a quilting frame and just made my first quilt.
I tried to hand quilt and there is no way I could do it. My friend came over and watched, and tried showing me how to hand quilt.
I actually BROKE THE NEEDLE IN HALF!!! She said, "Well, this is a first. Never saw that done before." And we had a good laugh.
So I guess I'll try machine quilting. She doesn't explain things very well so there has to be something I'm obviously not doing correctly. :?
I can identify with this. When my elderly aunt came over, she brought her frame for me to use, and showed me how to set it up. Then we sat down and she showed me how to hand quilt.
It took me several hours to get the hang of it. First my stitches were way too big, she laughed at me and said, "I could hang my toes in those stitches!!!"
I argued with her, thinking it would be SO much easier to jab the needle up and down through the fabric, but she was patient. She had me try it, and then we both crawled under the frame and she showed me that it wasn't as pretty. And yes, I did have to help her up!
After the 2nd DAY of quilting, I finally got to where I could do it fairly reliably.
But all this effort was really worth it. Hand quilting has to be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things I have ever learned to do. Please do try it again and try for a longer amount of time. Be patient with yourself!
In our world today of instant gratification, sometimes we don't allow our hands to learn the technique. But it is well worth it in this case.