Any Hand quilters left?
 

Hi everyone,
I learned to quilt in the 80's and that was predominately the way things were quilted. I still love the relaxation and beauty of hand quilting but am learning FMQ because it's pretty in a different way and I have more ideas than time :)

I was wondering how many of us still hand quilt? I use a leather thimble. It's the only one that has ever worked for me, and a hoop, but there are a million different ways. I usually do it in the cooler weather as well.

So do you hand quilt?

I don't - both of my grandmothers were quilters but I guess they were "modern" women because they both ran industrial sewing machines and did very little by hand. Neither of them hand quilted a single quilt as far as I know, neither of them even sewed bindings by hand! One of them would often tie her quilts, that's probably the closest to hand-quilting that either of my grandmothers did. And they, of course, are my main quilting role models. :)

I've tied a couple quilts but never hand-quilted anything, not even a small project. I'm not really motivated to get into it, but who knows, some day the hand-quilting bug might bite me! :)

I do:) I create applique quilts by hand using wool and wovens.

There are lots of hand quilters here on the board, going by past discussions. It was a fascination with hand quilting that got me into quilting in the first place. I hand as well as machine quilt, and I prefer the look and process of hand quilting; but like so many others, I want to finish more quilts than I would be able to do if I stuck to hand quilting only.

I do! I love having the quilt on my lap while watching TV. I use a metal thimble that I've had for years, it's the only one that feels right. Sure hope I never lose it because I have never seen this kind again. I also use a thimbleit on my thumb. I use a lap hoop also. I am working on my third queen size queen now but I must admit I enjoy working on smaller ones better. I did send 2 quilts out to be longarmed this spring & I love the fancy designs she was able to do. While I like the look of the 2" grid I usually do, the bugs and lizards were fun.

BTW I have been quilting for almost 20 years and have only finished 1 quilt completely hand pieced & quilted- The Farmers Wife quilt. I am slowly working on another hand pieced one - Grandmothers Flower Garden. All forms of quilting have merit & deserve to be explored!!!!

I still do and love it i know it takes longer but i feel more of me went into the qult. I have nothing against long arm quilting if that is what you prefer to do.

I big stitch hand quilt almost all my projects (11 out of 14 finishes so far this year hand quilted). No hoop, leather thimble
I don't have the patience to machine quilt anything bigger than a baby quilt. Too much trouble to wrestle it through the machine. ;)

One of these days I want to do the big stitch. They are so cute!

Me! I've only been quilting for about a year, but I started with hand piecing and quilting before I did anything with a machine. I keep a hand project going as well as some kind of a machine project. Just depends on where I'm working or what I feel like doing.