Leota

I like hand piecing because it's portable. I can work on it where ever I am :D And it is calming to the soul

roselady

I haven't done traditional hand piecing a lot, I love english paper piecing, hand applique (not all applique has tiny pieces, but even if it does, there are some tricks that make it very portable), hand embroidery and hand quilting. All very relaxing, and nice when you want to be out with family rather than attatched to a machine. I would like to do some traditional hand piecing again, I've kind of stayed away from it because I don't remember how to do the intersections, it is different than on the machine, you don't sew through them. I know I could figure it out if I took the time. It also takes a little more time to cut and mark the seamline, Jinny Beyer does it by "eye" but I don't know if I would trust myself to do that.

JNCT14

Hey Roselady - what are the tricks? I love applique, but a lot of my pieces are very small and I am always stuffing bits into ziplock bags to take with me to DD's guitar lessons, basketball games, etc.....everything always falls out...I use the wax paper method for the pieces and try not to cut them out until I need them but still a pain even so....

ckcowl

I always have hand piecing projects going on- i love to hand piece. for me it is also theraputic but also i have found i can be much more precise- and some of those intricate blocks are much easier by hand. I also (99% of the time) machine quilt my quilts- even the hand pieced ones. sometimes part of a quilt is hand pieced and other parts machine pieced. the amazing grace quilt is that way- the hexagon/diamond borders are hand pieced- the pineapple blocks, foundation pieced...lost of differerent techniques in the same quilt.
i really do not find hand quilting all that relaxing- i really don't know why it's different for me- but i will stick to hand piecing and leave the hand quilting to others. :thumbup:

JNCT14

I am with you on this. Hand quilting hurts my wrist so I would rather do FMQ. Hand piecing, however, is fun, portable and helps with the 'finicky' blocks - I will probably do a lot of hand piecing for the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler that I will be starting soon - but some of those blocks may also be paper pieced, or just straight machine piecing. My Celtic Illusions quilt was completely hand pieced but FMQ'd since I wasn't going to do all the meandering by hand!

Jennifer22206

I love hand piecing my grandmothers flower garden. I've got over 30 flowers (one round so far) done in about 3 weeks. It's really fun!

Mariposa

I would not hand sew a quilt, due to hand issues. I can do embroidery and cross stitch in small spurts. :)

roselady

Hi,
One way that you can keep the pieces under control is to iron them onto a sheet of freezer paper, or several small sheets that you can then put in a zip lock bag. Then just peel off the piece you want to sew down. You can also thread them onto an unknotted thread in the order you would sew them down, and just pull one off at a time.

hsquiltingmom

I like to do hand piecing and hand quilting, because it is relaxing, and it is very portable. I am hoping to go on a lot of vacations this summer, and I am putting together kits to take with me. It also lets me spend more time with my family.