Kathy, my husband's grandfather was a Lutheran minister. Missouri Synod, I believe

We attending a LC-MS (Missouri Synod) now as the closest WELS congregation is in Lubbock, Texas - over 2 hours away & 1 entire gas tank away!

The Lutheran world is small. The pastor in Lubbock - his wife was in the Parish Services division when I was there. He had been LC-MS, but was turning to WELS & was at the Seminary & she was at the Synod HQ. DH taught at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee.

Ducky, you asked about the length of my stitches, so pics with tape measure coming up.

Re those of you struggling with smooth curves, smaller stitches will help you to avoid those little points on the curve. Get up as far as the little point, control beyond it with your thumb nail, then poke the point under before you put a stitch in it. If it still won't go, let go of your turning with your thumb and re- turn it. Also, snipping into your turning might help. Not quite as far as the line you want to stitch on, but enough so that each snippet can be turned under, one at a time.

The tighter the curve, the closer the snips. Hope that helps. But keep persevering, because once you have it, I don't think you will ever lose it, and you will wonder why you ever struggled in the first place.

I admire you all for trying, and you will be so proud of yourselves having gained another quilting skill!

Thank you Lesley. I found, through hard knocks, that the smaller stitches just do better...period.

You're welcome, Ducky - you know I have never subjected my stitching to such scrutiny for so many people .... this is rather daunting. It's a good job you don't want me to sing, as I don't do that for ANYBODY!

Darn it, Lesley. That was going to be my next request....

Your stiches are fabulous. I'm just learning to hand quilt, omg, you should see my practice piece. It's horrifying!!

I'm thinking if I can get decent with my applique first, then I can ease into hand quilting. And from the looks of my applique, it may be a looooonnnnnggggg time before I tackle hand quilting.

Rachel, Ducky, don't be so hard on yourselves. We all have to start somewhere, don't we. Several people here are making this quilt because they did applique on their Dear Janes - and they did their struggling on that quilt.

Well, Lesley, this is something I will not give up on. My goal is to do applique well.