Hi there,
I'm wondering, do you like the Jean Brown hoop?? I ordered one of those Aunt Becky tools from her site. My BIG draw to her technique is that she's preventing the wear and tear on her hands. My hands tended to cramp up a bit if I quilted too long. Jean makes is look SO easy, and I'm really hoping to be able to train myself to pick up that technique.
I'm currently getting ready to work on a paper-pieced table topper (it's cut out), and it's about 26" x 26". I'm thinking it would be THE perfect project to start the hand-quilting again. The machine quilting's nice for gifts for people who really have no idea how long it takes to hand quilt something and doesn't really care, either. I've spent hours quilting for family members who are like "oh, that's nice". I think I probably would've gotten the same response if it was machine quilted.
My table topper is a lovely shade of blues and purples. I'm finding myself 'broadening my color palette' more and more for some reason. I was always a neutral-ly quilter, but also just finished a really cute miniature Ohio block with bright reds, blues, oranges, and yellows. Oh what fun!
I have no quilting friends whatsoever, so it's nice to be involved in a list who 'gets' my love of quilting.
Thanks again, everybody!
Trina (who is expecting 4-6" of snow tonight and HOPES to be snowed in tomorrow!)
I use Jean Brown's hoop - I also bought the Aunt Becky tool, but for some reason cannot get the jest of it. I tried quilting without a hoop on one of my smaller ones but just didn't feel comfortable so I went back to using the hoop. I can turn it anyway I need to so I am stitching in the direction that is comfortable for me. I have been working on a 58 x72 with this hoop and I just love it. My next one which is almost ready is 82" square and I don't think I will have a problem with it. One thing I did learn is not to have the quilt so tight in the hoop, mine is loose almost as Jean Brown's but not quite. Hard to explain.[/quote]