The hand quilting has begun!

So I have started with the hand quilting of my latest project. I sewed together my string blocks and added them to the quilt top. I matched that with the back and got it on my hoop. Ready to go. I started the sewing. Time consuming and tedious. This will take a minute, as they say in the south. But I am enjoying it so far. It is a great activity to do while watching TV or a movie to keep the hands busy.

As an aside, I had another class with Sandra this week. She is doing a 4 week class making a few blocks a week. We will end up with the makings of a sampler quilt. I am excited to be going back to the basics with someone who really knows her stuff. You see, I am a sort of slap-dash quilter. Certainly not a perfectionist. But apparently, other quilters judge your work by the closeness of a seam and the way corners match up. Losing even an eighth of an inch on every seem will get a block or row off by inches in the end, so the more care you take, the more even your quilt will look. You won't have to rig it up in the end because pieces don't match up right.

She also talked more about ironing techniques and cutting off the edges...Also things I am not careful about. But the more care you take is these details, again, the more it will show in your finished project. So my goal on this Sampler quilt is to be precise and careful. And if I am not, Margaret and Sandra will both be quick to point this out...lovingly of course!

In class I was going for speed, getting ahead of the other "beginner" in the class, churning off practice blocks as quick as I could. Imagine my shame when Sandra said "Why don't you try this one again...use a pin this time so you can get these matched up right. And watch your seems to be sure they are a 1/4 in exactly!" I did it and am better for it, seeing the difference between my haphazard block and the one I did carefully.

So it will be back to class next week with a new outlook. I want to improve my craft and moving quickly just isn't the way to do it. Perhaps the hand quilting at home will help me improve my patience, plus the machine quilting will seem fast in comparison, even if I am going more slowly and carefully.

I will keep you updated with my progress with some pictures from class, I hope, to show how it is going. My new mantra will be "take time to pin!"