This is not how the pro's do it

Quilting by hand.

I have watched a series of very good videos on hand quilting made by an Amish woman. She's a pro. There are a lot of pro's. I am not one of them. The small, close stitching; the picking up of 4 or 5 stitches at once, it is remarkable what can be done. It will be some time before (if !) I ever achieve such a level at hand quilting. It will be wonderful if I do, but it's also wonderful if I don't. I am making quilts that I like and am happy with.

At the polar opposite of close, fine stitching is "big stitch quilting". I don't do that either, I'm in the middle. Neither small nor big, my quilting stitches are medium sized and they do a good job of holding the filling in place.

The pro's I've watched use a frame with the quilt stretched over it. I've tried that but find I need a lot of give to the quilt as I work; taught is out. I've also tried a special, custom made-to-size thimble for my left hand to hold under the quilt. I've read that some people use the backside of a spoon. It feels like a barrier to the tactile feedback I get without it. Same for my right hand, working above the quilt: a thimble feels awkward and less sensitive than my bare hands. So for those reasons, taking four or five stitches at a time is out of the question--it requires a lot of pressure to push the needle through 4 stitches, all through 3 layers at once, it would destroy the fingers without a thimble.

So I take one stitch at time. It's enjoyable and I figure if I do it enough, adding another stitch to the one might just naturally develop, and maybe, before I even realize it, I'll be taking 4 stitches at a time. I have the thimble and thread puller. It could happen. But it's OK if it doesn't.

Timble, thread puller, and special under-quilt thimble

All geared up with the three implements is just a bit too much for me right now. I lose a sense of control when wearing and trying to use them. They need practice.

Donning the thimble and thread puller on right hand

 

Bespoke thimble on left hand

Taking one stitch at a time goes faster than one imagines. I can do one block in two to three hours, just about a block a day. Not bad. Faster than the applique work.

Since the quilt is large, I find that some sort of frame is helpful, but I use mine simply to drape the quilt over; it holds it up without the weight being born by me. I use this embroidery frame, at the edge of a table.

Embroidery frame to hold the quilt while working on it

Quilt draped over frame for stitching

In addition to the large basting stitches I put in to hold the three layers of the quilt together, I also baste smaller stitches around the block I'm quilting to ensure that it doesn't pucker while I stitch. The basting comes out as soon as I finish the block. On to the next.

Very long basting stitches running vertically; smaller basting around current block

I'm using blue quilting thread for this quilt. It's what I had. Can you believe I stopped at a quilt shop to see what other colors they had in quilting threads and they don't carry nary a quilting thread! I guess long-arm is defacto these days, which is kind of sad. Hey! I've done it, but feel I have evolved to hand stitching.

I have currently finished 3 blocks. A sample of my medium sized stitches:

Quilting stitches in blue

I am happy to be working on this. There's been some great wheel spinning as well; that'll be a different post.