hand piecing and quilting

Welcome Ellen; it's good to meet you. Your post worked fine.

I still hand sew the back side of the binding - but little else (though I would hand slip stitch the sashing if I were doing a quilt-as-you-go piece).

(Until a few years ago, I used to iron absolutely everything that was washed, including underwear. I have given up on underwear, but I do still iron tea towels!)

In message , " snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" writes

Mary, I also love to make and made things. Although I don't quilt by hand, I do make furniture by hand. While it takes a lot longer to do, is far more rewarding to me, and I think produces a better, less factory made looking item. So enjoy the things you love to do and don't worry about whether anybody else understands the rewards you get from doing them. You understand, and that is what is important. As for Polly's ironing of underwear, I do all of the ironing of clothes, in the house. But I assure you, I don't iron my own underwear. I do know a woman who irons all of her bed linen, sheets and pillowcases. I say whatever rings your bell.

John

Mary, I'm like you. I have two perfectly good sewing machines, but I do most of my quilts by hand. The only exception is baby quilts, as those are usually going to be loved to death and dragged on the floor a lot. But all of my other quilts are hand pieced and hand quilted. As I've often said, it's the process, not the product. My cardiologist actually told me that it was good for my heart, too! Apparently hand work releases some chemical in the brain, making us relaxed and calm. Who knew?

I only hand piece and quilt, I can take it where ever I want. As for ironing, I've told my husband that our iron only works on patchwork it won't work on clothes! Life is just too short for ironing, when there are far more interesting things to be doing!

Sarah

NEVER!!! Of course, there are loads of people here do also do their quilts totally by hand. I LOVE hand work, just not for quilts :-). If I want to do handwork, I will do some sort of embroidery which I do *a lot* of. I think the reason I am not interested in handpiecing or quilting is because it is pretty much all the same stitch and that just seems boring to me. With needlework, I get to do all sorts of wonderful stitches with all sorts of wonderful fibers. For me, quilting is all about the different fabrics and shapes, etc. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Welcome out of lurkdom Mary!

i love hand quilting, but have only hand pieced 2 quilts in my day. i do remember my mom ironing my dad's boxers. back in the day. needless to say, those days are gone!

amy in CNY

I used to do a lot of handwork but now the arthritis in my fingers tells me to restrict that as much as possible. If I need a bit done, I trade a friend for some rotary cutting or machine quilting. She still does lots of handwork, in the car even. I am only 55 so I should have a lot of years left for sewing, I hope.

I absoluely love hand quilting but can't do it either. Between the arthritis in my hands and having fibromyalgia, the pain of it offsets the fun of it. The only one I did by hand was a baby quilt for my first grandchild. A project that should have taken a short time took me months to finish but I got it done. The stitches weren't very straight but there was a lot of love sewn into that quilt! Donna

I hand sew the piecing, but prefer tying my quilts for the old-fashioned look (which, of course, is done by hand). I bought a new portable sewing machine a few months ago because my 43-year-old White quit working and I don't have the strength to take it out of the cabinet, put it in my car, and carry it into the shop.

The new one is a Brother and has the ability to place the needle to the right or left. I hate it. The increments are in .5 and it does not give me the exact "scant 1/4" I need, so I continue to piece by hand. I've also found that I get my points meeting better if I do it by hand. Because the new machine has a computer in it, I'm told I can't use my little straight-edge magnet to get straight seams either.

For me, hand sewing is the way to go; more precise, more relaxing, and easier on my back.

Well, I definitely don't "shun" my machines, but I do enjoy hand piecing and hand quilting too. Also some applique by hand and some embroidery. Love to have hand work to carry with me, and have while I "listen" to TV and so on. When I have needle/thread/fabric in my hands I don't eat, which is a winner all around.

Most of what I do is by machine, and I love my machines too. But it can all be lots of fun.

Pati, > Am I one of a dying breed? =A0I enjoy piecing and quilting completely by

Polly! I have never heard of anyone actually ironing men's underware, is it true? I am 50 something and can remember back to my grandparents being alive and 2 sets of great-grand parents and I never remember seeing anyone ironing underwear!

Ellen

Ellen, I doubt your grandmothers would have ironed underwear in front of company, even family company!

My own Grandma must have ironed in the middle of the night, because I never remember her ironing. But everything was ironed, even sheets.

And Polly, I am going to assume that you ironed boxers and not briefs, right?

Cindy

Why on earth would you apologize?? Can I come live witchyou?

I have another friend who is a fabulous quilter. She not only makes all their bread, she grinds all the wheat for the bread. How cool is that? She's not exactly a child of nature or anything, she makes modern quilts and since she's learned to put bindings on by machine, there's no stopping her now.

You can find her here in all her bread baking, quilt making, chicken raising glory.

Cindy

With me, it seems to go in cycles (like everything else)! Was a time when it was all hand work. Dolls hand sewn with hand made lace edgings and all. Bread baked twice a week and grew my own vegetables and preserved fruit in season for a family of five. Never had a mix, bakery item, or commercially prepared can in the house. Now my embroidery sits forlornly, month after year, while I do everything by sewing machine. Learning fmq, got a walking foot, and the quilt I am working on cries out for hand sewing in several places but I figured out how to do it on the machine. And yesterday I realized I did not have any flour in the place. You never know where life is going to take you! Turtle

Howdy!

I remember wheat bread.

Hand piecing: very good. Hand quilting: Very good. I enjoy it My Janome, tho', does the piecing much more quickly than my fingers alone, so I let her piece & I quilt. For tricky bits like "the points must be very pointy" & circles, I go by hand. And yo-yos- I can make yo-yos in seconds, another use for my favorite hand quilting thread, Gütermann.

Hmmm.. trying to remember when we last had wheat bread in the house, or on the table (any table, home, café', restaurant). For make-it-yourself food, I'll stick to my chocolate ice milk recipe.

Chills!

Ragmop/Sandy

When we got married 42 years ago, my MIL was ironing DH's undershirts (t-shirts) and handkerchiefs. That ended real soon :). I learned to iron on dish towels and handkerchiefs. No more. I usually put sheets right back on the bed after washing -- that way I don't even have to fold them. I empty the dryer as soon as it's done and hang up or fold neatly right away.

Julia >

Awwww, now, now, Phyllis. I thought about that one while cleaning floors and decided I couldn't just let it sit here unanswered. Of COURSE you can do a scant ¼" seam on your Brother. You'll simply have to figure out how and make it comfortable for you. With a plain old pencil, draw a line on a length of scrap fabric that is the ¼" from the edge that pleases you. (scant or dead-on, either one). Stitch on that line for a little and observe where the edge of the fabric travels in relation to the foot and the bed of the SM. Mark that line with a strip of blue masking tape or post-it notes. I don't remember which foot or why, but one time I actually put a fine dot with a Sharpie on a SM foot. The ¼" foot wouldn't do whatever I needed to. Anyhow - you can so do a ¼" SM seam on a Brother.You'll just need a 'bring it on!' attitude. You choose your battles but by golly, I'd show that Brother a thing or two. Polly

"Phyllis Nilsson" > The new one is a Brother and has the ability to place the needle to the

I've started a Grandmother's Flower Garden that's English paper pieced by hand; it's something I work on sporadically. Otherwise I haven't done any hand piecing. I do, however, enjoy hand appliqué and hand quilting; I usually have either a hand appliqué or hand quilting project going. Most of my quilts are machine pieced and machine quilted, simply because of the time factor.

I have a bread machine, so homemade bread is easy. I seldom buy any bread. I don't do much baking, but when I do, it is usually from scratch.

Julia in MN

Mary wrote:

I still iron DH's undershirts! and all handkerchiefs!

Mind you, I do positively like ironing. . In message , Julia in MN writes

I have been hand piecing my Quilted Diamond blocks for a couple of years now. I have no set plans for how I'm going to set them together, but I find that just doing the hand piecing is very relaxing and enjoyable -- just as I find the same thing about hand quilting, which I also love.

However, I'll never shun my sewing machine. I find that doing things by machine has its own satisfaction and brings just as much enjoyment -- at least for me.

Hand or machine? I hope I never have to make a final decision on that one!