Hand quilting really isn’t all that difficult. It just takes patience and callouses on your finger tips. Two things I did not have until today. Now that I’m in the swing of the quilting, it’s enjoyable.

It feels good to complete an entire section. I can look on with pride for the results and then roll the quilt down onto the front bar to expose more of the quilt to be quilted.

I am not using templates or patterns. I am just drawing freehand a design onto the quilt and then stitching over top of the marks

I consider myself to be a bit of a rebellious quilter. Whereas many quilters must have perfect stitching and perfect design, I really like the “randomness” of just drawing something on the quilt and then quilting it. Many quilters use tiny stitches. Not me. Mine are 1/4″ and very stitch apparent. Like my paintings, I love to see brushwork, I love creating brushwork. In my quilting, I love to see the stitching, all the imperfect, perfect stitching.

I’ve always been able to write, paint, and quilt using both my right and left hands, although I am “right handed” and prefer doing all my quilting with that hand, there are times I find myself having to go in a direction that I don’t like. On this quilt I am stitching what is called “Stitch in the Ditch” around the quilt block and triangle seams. Then I am creating random designs in the other sections of the quilt

Another trick I find useful is to pin the seams that I have completed with the “Stitch in the Ditch” technique. Especially if you are getting up frequently from your quilting, which I was today, I placed pins where I had completed the quilting along those edges.

Now that I have several sections quilted with the curving design, I kinda like the way it looks! 

This is what the quilt looks like from the underside. You can’t see the quilting, but it’s there.

And now I’ve rolled down another section to be quilted. Progress. It’s a wonderful feeling.