Celebrate Hand Quilting

Journey of a Quilter (quilting lines)

2013-06-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Caron for allowing me to post on the hand quilting blog. I always enjoy reading the postings here and wanted to contribute to the blog and be part of this wonderful group of hand quilters.

I have been thinking this year about how to hand quilt straight lines.

My friend Pat always uses 1/4" marking tape to quilt her grid lines against.

In the past I have probably tried all the tools and marking devices that you have tried. On this large quilt I used pencil to mark the bows on the peach coloured border, and soap slivers to mark the bars/lines in the outside border. I enjoyed the "aromatherapy" of the soap, but found the lines quite wide, which wouldn't work for closely spaced lines.

I have also used the Hera marker, which I loved for working on white fabric because there were no lines to worry about removing (but I had to quilt under really good light).

But as I finish each hand quilted project I find myself starting to dread the marking of the next one.

I have experimented with the technique called "no marking" or "eyeballing it"!

I want to call it "organic" quilting design, but don't know if it really is?

I don't want to have to mark or trace any lines, or do any planning for the quilting. Am I just lazy? Maybe! But it has been soooo much fun!

The current project in my hoop is called Journey of a Quilter (pattern by Leanne Beasley) and I decided not to mark one single quilting line on it. All the quilting is intuitive, "loosey goosey" and "eye-balled".

And I love it!

I would encourage quilters to try this method of quilting lines. It allows for more relaxation and enjoyment on the quilting journey!

Happy Quilting!
Kathy
http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.com

A New Quilt on The Frame

2013-06-06T08:44:00.001-07:00

By: Karen

As soon as I take a large quilt off the frame I always have another one waiting in line to take it’s place as I never get caught up – I bet a lot of you have that same problem!

Just a couple days ago I took the quilt Bow Tie Medallion off of the frame and decided to put my Traditional Red and Green Applique on it. This quilt has been waiting in line for a long time. I did the blocks in 2010 and early 2011, the border I did early 2012, so it has been waiting at least a year – I have another that has been waiting even longer! Of course I had to get started quilting it right away even though the binding is waiting to be stitched on the Bow Tie quilt.

The quilt top was inspired by 3 different books – I took the blocks from two different books and the border from another. I can’t for the life of me remember what book I fashioned the border from – it wasn’t an exact duplicate. The blocks though were from Jeana Kimball’s “Red and Green, An Applique Tradition” and Marsha D. Radtke’s “A Baltimore Album”.

So quilting begins -- I will be quilting around the applique shapes, some applique depending on the size of the piece will have some quilting in them as well. I am using 3/4” masking tape to mark my lines – I know some do not like masking tape and think it leaves residue behind – I have used this tape off and on for years with no problems so I will keep on using it.

This much done so far – I will be working on this off and on but I must get the binding done on the Bow Tie Medallion so I can call that one finished before I work a lot on this quilt. I expect this to be on the frame for the normal 6 months or so before it gets done. I am inspired though to finish it a little faster as this quilt is red and green – what better season to use it for then the holiday season – so I will try to have this finished by late November at least.

I am using King Tut variegated red/green thread of course!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 7

2013-05-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

We have made it through a whole week of blog hopping around the world. I hope you have enjoyed it!
Since there are many of you that have a blog, and are members of the Celebrate Hand Quilting Facebook group, you do know that you can let us know when you post a great article on a quilt you are working on, right? It’s easy to do… just copy the blog address with that particular post, and paste the address into Facebook on our group’s page. That way everyone will know to go check it out.
If you visit one of the blogs posted below, please be sure and say hello by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state or country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Today’s blogs await you:

Rose Marie Castonguay, Ontario, Canada

Kate Knight, Sydney, Australia

Nita Collins, Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada)

Avery Claire, Chicago, USA

Janet Treen, New South Wales, Australia

Lori French, Michigan, USA

Jill Cross, Michigan, USA

Thanks for participating in the Spring 2013 Blog Hop. We hope you have enjoyed it half as much as we have!

Keep on stitching… we’ll do this again in the fall!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 6

2013-05-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

Day Six of the Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop is upon us! This blog hop is a great way to see some blogs you might have missed, and get to know some quilters that you didn’t know before. If you missed any of the first few “hops,” look at the top left side of your screen and you should see each day listed. Click on any that you missed, and the link will take you right to them.

Please be sure and say hello while you are visiting a blog by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state or country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Today’s blogs await you:

Kathleen Baughman, Oklahoma, USA

Karen, Rhode Island, USA

Pat Taylor, Wisconsin, USA

Grace Thorne, Maine, USA

Pam Poling (Byrd), Connecticut, USA

Do you like blog hops? There is another one going on right now, but it is not limited to hand quilting.

For information, click the button below.

Drop by tomorrow for the last day of our Blog Hop,

Day 7!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 5

2013-05-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe that we have already had four days of the Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop! The blog hop is a great way to see some blogs you might have missed, and get to know some quilters that you didn’t know before. If you missed any of the first few “hops,” look at the top left side of your screen and you should see each day listed. Click on any that you missed, and the link will take you right to them.

Yesterday, our hop took us around Europe. Today, we are back in the United States. Here are the blogs for Day 5. Please be sure and say hello while you are visiting a blog by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state or country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Visit us on Pinterest! Click the button below.

Click on each quilter’s name to visit their blog:

Donna Stickovich, Pennsylvania, USA

Audrey Easter, Washington, USA

Tim Latimer, Michigan, USA

Emily Lewis, New Hampshire, USA

Haley A. Ping, Texas, USA

Caron Mosey, Michigan, USA

Drop by tomorrow for Blog Hop, Day 6!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 4

2013-05-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

I hope you have enjoyed Days 1, 2 and 3 of the Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop! The blog hop is a great way to see some blogs you might have missed, and get to know some quilters that you didn’t know before. Another great way to get to know other hand quilters is by visiting our Facebook group. There is a great group of dedicated quilters there… actually, we now have 600 quilters in that group!

Here are the blogs for Day 4. Today we travel around Europe. For those of you on other continents, this is a fun way to travel (and much less expensive than packing a bag and hopping on a plane!).

We hope you will enjoy your visit to each blog, and be sure and say hello while you are there by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state or country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Click on each quilter’s name to visit their blog:

Rosa Ejapa, Spain

Belarmina Antuña, Spain

Jolanda Pandiscia, Azores Islands - Portugal

Ann-Mari Duffy, Norway

Annemart Berendse, The Netherlands

Liesbeth Aarts, The Netherlands

Dineke Molema, The Netherlands

Elaine Suller,England

Drop by tomorrow for Blog Hop, Day 5!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 3

2013-05-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

I hope you have enjoyed Days 1 and 2 of the Hand Quilting Blog Hop! We have really enjoyed sharing these great blogs with you. I’m hearing some wonderful feedback from hand quilters all around the world, so it sounds like this is working! We wanted a way to share with other hand quilters. Sometimes when you’re a hand quilter, it seems as if you are the ONLY person left on the planet who quilts by hand. That is just not so!

Here are the blogs for Day 2. We hope you will enjoy your visit to each blog, and be sure and say hello while you are there by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state or country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Click on each quilter’s name to visit their blog:

Kathi Clower, Florida, USA

Linda Mageske, New Mexico, USA

Patricia Dudek, Oregon, USA

Cathy Fussell, Georgia, USA

Naomi Dumot, Pennsylvania, USA

If you are a hand quilter with an active blog and would like to hop on our Spring 2013 Blog Hop, this is your last chance. Please contact our blog administrator by email. Include your blog’s address, your first and last name and where you are from. The blog hop ends Sunday, May 19th.

Drop by tomorrow for Blog Hop, Day 4!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 2

2013-05-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

We hope you enjoyed Day 1 of the blog hop. If you didn’t catch that, click here.

Here are the blogs for Day 2. We hope you will enjoy your visit to each blog, and be sure and say hello while you are there by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state or country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Click on each quilter’s name to visit their blog:

Dawn Ronningen, Colorado, USA

Linda Hazlet, Iowa, USA

Jill Rimes, Texas, USA

Penny Holland, North Carolina, USA

Shirley Lucher-Suter, Texas, USA

Karen Goad, Arkansas, USA

If you are a hand quilter with an active blog and would like to hop on our Spring 2013 Blog Hop, please contact our blog administrator by email. include your blog’s address, your first and last name and where you are from. The blog hop ends Sunday, May 19th.

Drop by tomorrow for Blog Hop, Day 3!

Spring 2013 Hand Quilting Blog Hop, Day 1

2013-05-13T02:00:00.000-07:00

The Celebrate Hand Quilting Community thought it would be fun to have a blog hop. Hand quilters who are in our Facebook group, as well as those who are regular visitors to our blog, have provided their blog addresses and hope that you will drop in and take a look around.
As you know, quilters come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and ability levels. We all start out as brand new quilt babies, and gradually learn, grow and mature into addicted and talented quilters. No matter where we are on the ability spectrum, we are excited about hand quilting!
Please visit the following blogs, and be sure and say hello while you are there by leaving a comment. It’s nice to know where you are from as well, so if you could include your location (state, country) when you leave a comment, that would be fabulous!

Click on each quilter’s name to visit their blog:

Gina Elias	Illinois, USA
Karen Goad	Arkansas, USA
Carla Therrien	Arkansas, USA
Rose Roberts	Idaho, USA
Sue Cryderman	Michigan, USA

Drop by tomorrow for Blog Hop, Day 2!

Inspiration

2013-05-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Usually when I need inspiration, I check out my quilt books. Sometimes that's a book on Celtic symbols, or a book on textile design or the flowers in my garden. But to make something different, inspiration for quilting designs can come from the strangest areas.

How about fences made by blacksmiths:

http://www.formandreform.com

Islamic tiles:

Ice on windows:

http://aniet67.blogspot.nl/2012/02/dag-175-ijsbloemen.html

And mozaic:

http://www.breekwerk.nl/

How about textures as metal sheets?

http://www.bencloward.com/textures/metal%20sheet.jpg

Or a special Escher-grid?

http://www.tiac.net/~sw2/2005/05/escher_grid_2/escher_grid_ps.jpg

Inspiration for hand quilting is everywhere!

Have fun quilting!

Annemart Berendse

www.quiltingthetownred.blogspot.com

A Hand Quilting Blog Hop!

2013-05-08T13:31:00.001-07:00

Starting Monday, May 13th, Celebrate Hand Quilting is having a hand quilting blog hop! If you have a blog and would like your blog included here, please email Caron at this email address:

and include your blog address, your first and last name, and where you are from.

It might be good to have a current blog post on your site so that people can see fresh material! Get ready to see what your hand quilting friends are doing… help us really

Elizabeth's quilt is done!!

2013-04-22T14:51:00.002-07:00

In my hoop

2013-04-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

By Ann-Mari Duffy

I am quilting a crib quilt. It is inspired by a antique seen at a quiltshop in Norway.

Happy Quilting

Ann-Mari

Wordless Wednesday

2013-04-17T06:04:00.002-07:00

Says it all

A Dear Jane from France

2013-04-16T15:41:00.001-07:00

My name is Gail Clarke, I live in Burgundy, France, and here's a photo of my latest quilt off the frame. It will be on exhibition at the "Pour l'Amour du Fil" quilt show in Nantes, France, the third week of April. My Dear Jane will be one of one hundred reproduction quilts on show.

My Dear Jane is hand-pieced and hand-quilted on a full frame (4 boards, 4 clamps). It was totally addictive and I enjoyed every minute of it - in fact, I might start another one just to try out different fabrics!!

I love visiting this blog!

Underhill Tree of Life Wholecloth Quilt

2013-04-15T13:56:00.001-07:00

My name is Jill Meszaros and I am from Pennsylvania. This is a picture of my "Underhill Tree of Life Wholecloth Quilt". I was inspired to create it for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2012 Quilt Show. You can read more about the quilt and see a better picture at this site:

http://1812quiltchallenge.blogspot.com/2012/03/handquilted-underhill-tree-of-life.html

It is so very hard to get a good picture of a wholecloth. I think they have done a better job than I have. Thanks again for letting us share our quilts.

Elegant Gardens by Cindy Lash

2013-04-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

Elegant Gardens, made by Cindy Lash. The blocks were designs by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts, and the quilt is signed by Edyta on the back. It was displayed at The Gathering of Quilters in 2012 in Auburn, IN, where she was the featured speaker. The layout was designed by Caroline North of Caroline’s Cottage Cottons in Rome City, Indiana as a Block Of the Month for the shop in 2010. I made this quilt as a shop sample for that BOM. The applique is fused and stitched by hand with Presencia #12 Perle Cotton and a buttonhole stitch. It is hand quilted.

Cindy Lash

Rome City, Indiana, USA

Farmer’s Wife

2013-04-15T03:18:00.001-07:00

This Farmer’s wife is all 111 blocks. It was hand pieced and hand quilted. I used the Baptist fan quilt design. I use a hand held hoop and thread baste before quilting. I love hand work, but must admit I am more hand pieced topper than hand quilter. So many quilts waiting to be quilted.

By Rita Larson

Hawaiian Quilt #1

2013-04-15T03:09:00.001-07:00

From and made by: Mary Ash, Johannesburg, South Africa

Name of Quilt : Hawaiian Quilt 1.

It took me a full year to complete the applique and the quilting – loved every step of the process except perhaps the basting before quilting, which took the best part of a weekend on my knees on the floor!

My first wholecloth quilt

2013-04-15T02:33:00.001-07:00

by Judy Leckie, Melbourne Australia. Quilt completed 2010.

500 Quilters… and more!

2013-04-14T14:27:00.001-07:00

Our group on Facebook is now at over 500 hand quilters, and we feel the need to celebrate in a big way! Quilters were notified on Facebook when we had reached the 500 mark. Everyone made a toast with their favorite beverage, and we feel it’s time to let the whole world know how awesome it is to hand quilt!

If you are a hand quilter who visits this site or is a member of our Facebook group, we would like to connect your favorite hand quilted piece to this website. You can do this one of two ways. If you have your own blog, please put a photo of your quilt on your own blog, and then link to it on this website.

If you don’t have a blog, please send a photo of your quilt to the Celebrate Hand Quilting blog administrator by clicking here. In the email, please include 1)your name, 2)country where you live,3) the name of your quilt, and 4)anything you would like our readers to know about you or your quilt.

Hand quilting is not making a comeback… it has NEVER left! Quilters all over the world are hand quilting, and the world needs to know. Join us in sharing this wonderfully creative world of quilting. We’re so glad you are here! Please tell your friends about this blog, our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/handquilting/

and our Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/caronmosey/celebrating-hand-quilting/

Heart's Infatuation

2013-04-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

I finished and posted about this quilt a couple weeks ago on my own blog, but wanted to share here too with people who helped to guide the finished project. I call it Heart's Infatuation as it started as Esther Aliu's Heart's Desire. But I lost momentum and the desire was gone.

I started the needle turn applique back in the spring of 2011 as a mystery quilt where part of the pattern was released each month.

When the 3rd month pattern came out, I started to evaluate if I was really ready to commit to the original design.

Then the section with these flowers was released and I was in love again.

So I came up with a lay out that would use the 3 squares that I'd finished, plus lots and lots of the flowers that I adore.

Over the next 8 months, I continued to add flowers and leaves and hearts. In August 2012 I decided it was time to stop applique and think about filling that white space with quilting.

I reorganized Esther's design components into this center motif.

Which turned into a mixed method trapunto project that I posted about on this blog.

Thanks to ideas shared by this blog's followers, I stumbled into the perfect (albeit insane) fill. Magenta thread on a white background. It does look super cool...as long as you are viewing it close up. There are lots of details like that in this quilt.

6 months later....

and with an assistant on cold days...

I'm finally done.

It was a long journey and worth every stitch.

Loving That Hand Quilting

2013-04-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

By: Audrey

My Vintage Reproduction quilt

Sometimes I feel a bit of a fraud posting on this blog. I'm definitely not as skilled a hand quilter as many of the others who post here! The thing is, hand quilting has long been known for as an art that any and all can take part in and receive the same amounts of pleasure. We live in a day and age where we have amazing options available to us in the finishing of our quilts, but still, there are those of us that choose to hand quilt anyway. Maybe it's because we're a stubborn lot, but I don't really think so. I think it's because we've come to understand the benefits of slowing down and taking the time to really appreciate the labor of our hands. Why bother counting the hours involved in bringing a quilt to fruition? You and I both know that's never been the point anyway.*wink

Wildflowers

2013-03-30T12:14:00.001-07:00

By Karen

Flowers of spring. I made this wall hanging about 10 years ago -- I think. The pattern I believe was by Carol Armstrong – I no longer have any of her books but I think that is her name. I don’t recall seeing any books from her in a long time. She was the person I called the “queen of wildflower applique” for a long time. This particular pattern was in a magazine, I still have the pattern somewhere but not the magazine so I don’t know which it was in – years ago though. I no I had it for some years before I made it. I wish now that I still had some of her books, I only had a couple but didn’t think I would use them anymore and traded them off to others.

I really tried to keep my stitches small on this one – I’m not usually concerned over stitch size but seeing as this is a small wall hanging I wanted the stitches small.

The lines change throughout the quilt.

Have a Happy Easter everyone

Oh Spring, where art thou?

2013-03-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

We're still under a couple feet of snow and it will be a while before spring flowers start to bloom. This time of year, out comes my tulip quilt to celebrate the time of year. Last spring, we were in the process of moving and my tulip quilt didn't get hung on the wall. This year, we are renovating our new home and I fear it won't see daylight either. Oh well .... next year.

Here is my tulip quilt so that we all can enjoy seeing it!

A close-up of the hand qulting .... I love doing circles .... so simple .... so effective.

Have a great day!
Rose Marie Castonguay
Applique 'n Patch Quilting