ckcowl

Jinny Beyer hand pieces her incredible beautiful quilts. She has many tutorials, tips, hints and help on her blog and on the Jinny Beyer website.

Jo Belmont

I join the chorus on the Jinny Beyer recommendations. I also applaud your choice to hand piece. It's great to have a take-along project and is therapeutic in a way unlike regular machine piecing, though both have their place for sure. Here's a video showing Jinny joining squares, then the row, and the perfect method for matching points, accuracy, controlling tension, etc. I don't think you can find better than Jinny Beyer. You could spend months watching all her videos and they all are quite nice.

Go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_nIPPESxbM

Carolyn71

Another resource is The Simple Handmade Everyday podcast/website https://kristinesser.com/tutorials-2/ They’ve done two hand pieced quilt alongs and have very good good tutorials. If you look under the tutorial tab on the website the wall hanging from last year is there that is a beginner level piece and teaches how to do various blocks.
Enjoy!

janiebakes

SueZQ from MN recently posted about a Manx Block. It is hand sewn. Have you heard of a Manx Quilt Block?

Here is a link to a Youtube video that I have found to be helpful with the ManX Block as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8yXvcsG-Q0

Variations in ways to make the block are already showing up in my research. Diary of a Quilter blog says the width of the strips is from the base of your thumb to the bottom of your thumbnail. The Youtube video (white gecko craft lounge) says the width of the strips is the length of your thumb. The video also discusses using pearl cotton instead of thread because the sewing shows on the back and pearl cotton is more decorative. I can tell you that cutting with scissors or a rotary cutter is much better than nicking and tearing the fabric. That really distorts the weave on the edges.

nanac

Although I do occasionally machine sew my quilts, most of what I do is still hand-pieced.
I use a small running stitch, and take one back stitch at the beginning and end of my block. Also take a back stitch each time I pull my thread up. Originally, that was to help strengthen my seam because I had not marked my seam lines. As another poster said, drawing a light guide helped me to keep my seams straight, and now I just "eyeball" the seams.
Whatever template you use, make sure you start and stop 1/4 inch away from the edges so your seams will nest together. And the best advice (for me) was to make sure your rotary cutter or scissors are sharp. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to distort some or all of your pieces by "chopping" instead of cutting.
One of the things I like best about hand-piecing is that it is much more portable than a machine. Yes, it does take longer, but I'm OK with that.

starryblu

You are all so wonderful! I really appreciate all the input. I have been doing some research, and have read that Jinny Beyer does do great handwork, so that's where I should be looking. I'm going to read up on what she does. I do like the idea of it being a take-along project. I usually have a needlework project with me, and this is my current choice. I have really come to love it. Nanac, you are really on the money with your advice. So far, I am marking my seam lines. I really need them, and hopefully as I advance I will be able to eyeball myself. I do the backstitches as well, and the sharp cutting tools are great advice. I've tried to go with what I have and it's made a huge difference when I've bought something new.

I myself am ok with taking longer with my projects. I found that a lot of what I was doing was building up TOO fast, so this slows me down a bit. I'm just doing this for my own satisfaction, so it really doesn't matter how long it takes.

Thanks to you all for the recommendations of websites, podcasts, videos, who does it, etc. Now I'm very happily ready to research!