Hand quilting is pretty relaxing. I’m working on a nine-patch quilt right now, and it sits in a jumble on the couch in between quilting sessions. I work on it each time I sit down to watch tv, so it’s coming along slowly, but I definitely don’t feel frustrated by it. I’m going to quilt my next quilt on the machine, though, cause it’s for someone else and I don’t want to still be working on it in ten years.

Anyway, I think you will enjoy the hand-quilting process, especially if you’re the kind of person who likes to have something to occupy her hands while watching tv.

is there still space for the presto nine patch class?

johanna – at the very least i need some key pointers from you about the basting… for hand quilting, what do you think – pins basting and thread basting? i plan on just doing straight vertical lines from top to bottom.

rebecca, michelle, ella – thank you for your sweet words. i’m so proud. i can’t imagine how i’ll feel when it’s done!

charlotte – i certainly was unclear with the ‘basting’ statement. in quilting, when you sew blocks of fabric together, this is called ‘patchwork’. once you have a front piece and a back piece, you layer them with batting in the centre. ‘quilting’ is when you sew these three layers together – top, batting and back. in order to keep all these layers set in place for the ‘quilting’, you need to ‘baste’ all the layers together. this can be done with safety pins or thread or both. this prevents the layers from shifting during the ‘quilting’ process. does that make sense? so what i’m about to do is baste the back, the batting and quilt top together so that i can start my hand quilting. anyone else should pipe up, if i missed something in my explanation here.