Never say Never!

I had a good friend many years ago that made all her quilts by hand. She tried so hard to get me interested and even gave me a little kit for a pillow with the fabric squares already cut out. But I was working on cross stitch and needlepoint at that time and I was not interested in quilts.

Well that finally changed and I started quilting. I love to sew and I had been sewing most of my life. I made most of my clothes and really enjoyed sitting at the sewing machine.

Of course I figured, well I sew, so quilting will be a piece of cake - wrong. There were so many new things to learn and the seam allowances were different. I had been dealing with yards, not fat quarters. But the fact that I was comfortable with a sewing machine made the transition easier and I had a very good teacher!
I also found two books that were very helpful.

One is by Carol Doak - Your First QUILT BOOK (or it should be!) and the other is by Ellen Pahl - The Quilters Ulimate VISUAL GUIDE. Both of these books have been invaluable and I refer to them time and again!



I loved making quilts and I could whip up the tops very quickly. Somebody mentioned hand quilting and I said NEVER! I don't have enough time in the day.

Well, that was true, I didn't have enough time in the day - but what about the nights! I love to sit with my husband and stitch while he reads or we watch TV. Just a relaxing night. I was doing cross stitch, but I started wondering about piecing fabric.

I also had the opportunity to take a class by Jinny Beyer and I got her book - Quiltmaking by Hand. I was hooked. Her book was so inspiring with lots of stories regarding quilts and all the history, etc. She even had patterns and I choose one on a cold rainy day in January using my stash.

 It is a King Size Quilt (wouldn't you know I didn't start small?) and it is on our bed today. When I started it, I had no idea about how it would end up, I just started piecing. Here is the result.





Well from then on I was hooked on hand-piecing. I have hand-pieced 6 quilts (some for me and some for family and friends). I have even designed several patterns. One is " Denny's Hopscotch Quilt" available on my website. It was originally for my husband, but it was soon claimed by Denny when he was still with us. It will always be his quilt and it will always be my favorite.

Another of my hand-pieced quilts will be featured in the February issue of The Quilt Pattern Magazine. This particular quilt was hand-pieced using Inklingo. Linda Franz loves hand-piecing and created Inklingo to make it so easy. But you will hear more about that next month!

I have recently started applique and using Cindy Mccoy's patterns from The Quilt Pattern Magazine, I have made these blocks. I have just finished the third block in the table runner, so I will be posting that soon.





And I am quilting another quilt with one of Jinny Beyer's patterns using some of my favorite fabrics with fall colors. This one is just so much fun.

So it just goes to show - Never Say Never!



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