Gannyrosie

mjhaess, I hate thimbles, never could get used to them. So I have found that the little thimble pad that sticks to my right index finger works great. When I have to quilt upwords I use my thumbs fingernail. It's what works for me, cause thimble's no can do.

Mcflower

Hi All, I hand piece and hand quilt. Sewing machines frustrate me!

Shirls4sons

Hand quilter here also. But, my hands are getting to ache and cramp so much when I'm quilting that I'm afraid I'm going to have to learn how to machine quilt. I prefer any hand work; quilting, embroidery and applique.

Dvora

I do mostly machine piecing (except for English Paper Piecing, natch), but I love hand quilting! I do machine quilt charity quilts and usually baby quilts too. I figure the baby will grow and drag the quilt around. It will get hard use and washing.

I have some arthritis in my hands now which was threatening to make me into a machine-only quilter. But I started rubbing my hands a lot, especially the fingers, with a homeopathic cream (whether the homeopathic ingredients made any difference, I don't know), taking glucosamine and chondroitin supplements and researching ergonomic tools for myself (scissors, rotary cutter, the right thimbles, etc.) and it's made a world of difference. I still can't handquilt for as long at one sitting as I used to, but I'm enjoying handquilting again! When my arthritis *really* bothers me is when I go for a week *without* quilting or at least putting my fingers through their range of motion.

wanda lou

I both hand and machine quilt.

dkabasketlady

I have SID a few of my quilts, but I'm really a HAND QUILTER and find it very relaxing. I machine piece my quilts and finish them by hand quilting. One of these days I'd like to learn to FMQ, but I'll have to get a difference sewing machine as I only have a FW & not enough throat space to FMQ (my opinion only).

doodledo

I have went to LQS and if yu can believe not one teaches any classes on this! The one lady told me it is not the way to quilt anymore! So I have done, one small and one lap quilt by hand. Not perfect, but it did feel good to look at the work I did, even thought it is crooked, different stitch lengths, etc.
but I do both, hand and machine.

familyfun

"The one lady told me it is not the way to quilt anymore!"
Oh my.. this really disturbs me.. I dont think I would go back. I think any way you want is the way to quilt!! I can see possibly no need for classes in the area but not the statement. I went to a hand quilting class at one of the LQS in the area and I was disapointed that there were only 2 others in the class. I went because I thought it would be fun. The teacher kept telling me to pull the fabric super tight in the hoop and then wanted me to rock the needle and keep my stitches small.. I felt the fabric needed to be looser to make my stitches smaller so everytime she walked away I loosened it some.. Here she came right back again telling me to tighten it up. I felt like a little kid that kept getting in trouble with her hand in the cookie jar.. LOL ...

toolazy

Thus far my few quilts have been machine pieced with both hand and machine applique, and machine quilted. But I have a current project that I will hand quilt -- just don't feel it will look right with machine quilting. I meant to machine piece it but that didn't work out well so am now English paper piecing it instead.

"not the way to quilt anymore" -- what an odd comment! It seems to me there are many styles of both machine and hand quilting, and all have a place in this art.

I notice there are some very accomplished hand quilters on this board, as well as some very accomplished machine quilters. It's a good place to see the whole spectrum .

Cyn

I'm right with ya!