sorry to hear she pass but it a pretty quilt

I also love to do applique and quilting by hand. I usually do piecing on the machine. I like to work on my quilting while watching TV.

Janie

Elsie, I machine quilt, machine piece but I love to hand piece and hand quilt. There is just a feeling you get when you are sitting there hand piecing and hand quilting that you don't feel with a machine. Also my husband and I are one the road a lot. I always carry hand work with me. I have a pvc pipe lap frame and I quilt in the front seat. It is ideal. If you don't have one you can find them cheaper at WalMart than at the lqs. Hope this works for you too. I love it.My pvc pipe frame is 15" square

I only hand piece and hand quilt - the machine scares me !!! I just finished a hole in the barn, courthouse steps and fan quilt for 3 ladies in the same family. The hole in the barn & courthouse steps I took to my LQS to be machine quilted (which I have never done before) and can't wait to see how they turned out. These 2 quilts are for a mother & daughter who I am sure will use it with their son/grandson so it will be washed more. The fan quilt is for the mother's mother and I am hand quilting it. I wanted to give them all at the sametime and it would of taken forever to hand quilt all. By taking them to be machine quilted I just don't feel like I did it myself. :( :( :(

I am like you also, I've hand quilted the most - I don't think I've ever seen hole in the barn - woukld love to see you quilts when finished

I have tried both machine and hand quilting. I have done some hand quilting with cathedral windows. Right now I think I have really found something I enjoy the best, it is hand quilting with Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern. I also find hand quilting very relaxing and portable. I love watching the different colors and patterns come together. I am using 1930's fabric, and I must say it looks pretty. It will take a long time, but it is well worth it and fun.

yes it is nice to see your work how it turn out hand piecing is a pretty art and they look great and so is hand quilting is beautiful

june i have never send one out i heard what they charge i can't afford them but i have machine quilt that what i started out with untill i watch simply quilt that and watch alex anderson i tape it that how i learn to hand quilt i wore out that tape lol

that you all this was fun

I am currently hand quilting a pink, yellow, and cream twin quilt. My mother in law helped, too, when she was visiting. I am having trouble finding a thread I like for hand quilting. Seems like it is either too thick (stiff) or too thin. What do you use?

I, too, quilt when I am on vacation and my husband is driving. It's great to come home with something I've made. Even if it isn't finished, I usually get a lot of it done.

Also, have you noticed that walmart doesn't have fairfield batting lately?

I usually have at least one of each going on at the same time.

I also am prone to include ties and stitching in the same quilt.

Quilt Mania,

I, too, am handpiecing a GFG quilt and intend to hand quilt it as well. I do have a question--how are you doing your border? Do you "half" the flower so the edges are all even and then applique the hexagons to a border? I saw one done at a quilt show and the person filled in with a solid color of hexagons in order to make it even and the border showed flowers going up the sides (on stems) and they used the smaller hexagon template (I have all sizes). It was beautiful and different. Will look for an answer.

SSTeacher,
The GFG I have is from a kit. (Bought it in Lancaster so I'd have something to do while DH was at a conference.) It is white in the center, blue paisley in the next ring and red in the third ring. I made the blocks and then started with one block in the center, added a circle of blocks around it, then did another circle of blocks around that. I'm not going to do a border. I'm going to be a little lazy about the binding if possible. My intention is to go to Joann's and buy either bias tape or prepackaged quilt binding and do it that way.

i use coat hand quilting cotton to do hand quilting your thread will be a little thick cause they are coated so your thread can go through easy and wrap it twice around your needle so the knot can pop in easy no i haven't notice about the batting i get my batting at hobby lobby
but heard a lots of walmart not going to have a fabric department

didn't know you can buy gfg in kits but mine i thinking when i get it done if ever i'm going to even the side up and put a binding on it too

That really sounds different and I know it is beautiful. Would love to see a posted picture. I used a yellow center, solid color, third circle is made from 1930's reproductions, of course, many different prints. I chose a solid to coincide with the print, e.g., pink, blue, lavendar, green, etc. You are not being lazy about the binding--probably prett smart. I am not too far from getting it put together. Have a few more flowers to do. We visit Lancaster about twice a year since I am from Shamokin, PA. We live in VA.

Thanks elsie, I'll keep practicing. I noticed that the smaller the needle, the smaller the stitches!

Also, about the gfg quilts, my mom made one when I was very little and I have tried and tried to remember the edge, but can't. I'll be interested to see what you do with yours. I have been thinking I should start one so that I ahve work to take with me at a moment's notice.

i don't have mine done but it been two yrs since i work on it need to do it so i can get it done

Well Elsie, two years is not long--mine has been ongoing for 6 years. I have made quilts and quilted projects in between that time and just pick the GFG up when at doctor appointments with my husband, etc. or watching sports on TV. I, too, love the handquilting part of quilting. I did get away from hand piecing but that was fun too; however, not as fast. Will send a picture if I can figure out how to do that. It looks like you go to "Img" and insert.

you know i seen a picture on a site that the person just some how cut the batting and back the same way as the top and sew it down but i don't think i can do that .but there is site that you can look and see how they end theirs i like looking at them

What you said tickled my memory. Is it possible that someone may have appliqued the edges of their grandmother's flower top onto white borders?
And then put another narrow colored border on the outside of that? I have this picture popping into my head, but don't know from where it came!!!

Would love to see your flower garden quilt - i'm still working on the one my aunt started - I think i have to put in 2 more blocks then done- oh boy

i was just thinking that may be different colors prairie points all around it stuck in between the layers that might be cute what do you think

I've never done a quilt by hand. The closest I get is sewing down the back of the binding - always by hand. I'm doing a Dear Jane starting in January, and I'm thinking of working on my hand quilting skills at the same time, and potentially handquilting it when the blocks are put together.

it a nice to sat and do hand work what ever you doing some do binding by hand and they enjoy that

Hi Jo Jo,
Yes, that is what I plan to do--applique the edges of the flowers to a plain white border; however, on the plain white borders (all the way around), I plan to do the flowers (with the miniature hexagon shapes) all the way around (with stems) and all of that will also be appliqued. I will take a while but since I have already had this quilt in process for 6 years, what is another year? If I can find the picture I took at the Quilt Show, and learn how to post it, I will do that.

Wow, I'd love to see a picture, even one in progress.

HMMM. It would probably be very nice. Perhaps you could preview with a few prairie points pinned between the layers to see how you would handle where the uneven edge formed by the hexagons and the prairie points come together. 8)

I love to hand piece and hand quilt. Piecing is my favorite but I always have one of each going.

I hand piece and quilt most all the quilts I make for friends and family. Some how I feel that is how a quilt should be made. BUT....... when I make them for charity like project linus or the womens crisis center I machine piece and tie the quilt. I feel the less I have to use a sewing machine the better, for some reason I don't relax at the machine so I would rather sew by hand.

JoJo, in answer to your suggestion about posting, I am presently having trouble downloading but hope to get that fixed soon. Will send pic as soon as I can. Thanks for your interest. I agree with others that there is something calming about handwork. Sue

Sewjoyce. My mother-in-law had a vest made out of yo yo's that she bought at a craft show. It was gorgeous. I should have examined it closer but they were attached onto the fabric and it was just a normal vest pattern; of course, the material was plain behind the yo yo's.

Could some computer savvy person out there talk me through how to include a picture on these posts? Or, tell me where to go on this Board to get the directions?

I believe if you click on main forum and then on pictures the first post there walks you through posting a picture. :lol:

esqmommy if you every you do hand piecing or quilting and need help we all will help you so just let us know

Elsie: I keep seeing about a Dear Jane quilt. Is that a certain kind of block? Don't mean to sound "dumb." I looked up Dear Jane on the Internet but did not know if it was just one kind of block. Sue

This was a picture I took of the GFG quilt at a show in Hampton, VA. This is the kind of border I was describing that I would like to use on my quilt.

This is a 50th Wedding Anniversary quilt I made for my brother and his wife (Log Cabin pattern).

This is a quilt for our oldest granddaughter made from her softball uniforms.

Thanks to Shemjo I actually found out how to post a picture. That is all for now until I get our digital camera unloaded. Thanks for your help and interest, especially you, Shemjo, for teaching me to post a picture.