Encouragement for New Hand Quilters! My VERY First Quilted Item (humiliating myself here, LOL)

[speckledhen]

Thank you, Karen. I'm doing the border now. May have it bound and ready to go by sometime tomorrow. Guess I may put a sleeve on the back for use as a wallhanging, too.

 

[NanaKat]

You are so sweet to encourage others the way you do.
Hand quilting is therapy as well as art.

 

[speckledhen]

And Lord knows I need therapy! Chickens and quilts, what could be a better life?

 

[seminolewind]

Yes good therapy. It's a very soothing rhythm with the in-out-in.

 

[speckledhen]

Yup, then you stab a finger, LOL.

My 90 year old dad calls me and the two questions he always asks are 1) Are the roosters crowing? and 2) are you sticking your fingers? LOL.

 

[seminolewind]

Isn't that what they make thimbles for?

 

[speckledhen]

You don't wear thimbles on all your fingers, only the one that pushes the needle through. The one underneath that pushes back up has to be able to feel the needle to guide it back up through the fabric. Can you imagine trying to sew with a miniature tin can on every finger tip, LOL?

 

[seminolewind]

Can you tell I've never used a thimble? I don't even know what finger to put it one? LOL

 

[seminolewind]

Kathy, do have one of those big quilters that you roll out a whole quilt on?

 

[speckledhen]

Kathyinmo has one of those huge commercial machines, yup. She machine-quilted a quilt that I made for myself and I hand quilted one that she pieced. And I pieced a quilt that she had already cut out all the pieces for, then sent the top back to her as a thank-you. I hope she uses that on her bed one day. I swear, maybe we ought to start a business together, LOL. Well, nah, that would take all the fun out of it for me. I think she already has a business with her machine, though.

I use the thimble on my middle finger of my right hand and my thumb as a stop for the stitch, plus a finger on my left hand to help guide the stitch back up from the underside. All in all, I'm using four or five fingers at a time to quilt every stitch. I cut the finger off an old set of rubber gloves to wear on the forefinger or thumb of my right hand to grip the needle to pull it through, too. Those needles can be slippery.