What a windy day I chose to photograph this project! At least the rain had stopped and the sky was blue. And warm. 60° at noon in late October? It doesn’t get any better than this!
This was a quilt I started way back in the summer. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, at the cottage, not particularly suitable for the usual Lake Day. I had the urge to create something with what little inventory I had, on hand, and having recently spotted this I decided I should give it a try. Because I wanted only one set of the five blocks, as opposed to all four sets, and I wanted it larger than one-fourth of the quilt, I had to enlarge all the parts proportionally…. I got the math figured out and went to work. Then daughter decided it would be even more interesting if I linked the squares… I set about recutting parts… I barely had enough of the blue. I was just able to squeak by.
All the solid fabrics are Kona cotton solids. On the back, I used the same size square repeated, in the same Robert Kaufman Primrose Dot, as the front and the binding for continuity.
I chose to hand quilt a spiral square at 1 1/4″ intervals, which makes for superfast quilting.
Then I added my embroidered, quilt signing, discreet signature. The date and the baby’s name will have to wait for the arrival, in a couple of months. I am ahead for once!
Because I truly love the look of some of the machine quilted quilts I’m always tempted to think it’s quicker and would be fun to do. So many options…. So for this project I thought I’d check and see just how much time I’m putting into the quilting. This one is 44″ square, a nice sized baby quilt.
I machine piece most baby quilts so I didn’t bother taking the time to track that because what I do is no different that the next. A Sunday afternoon and it was finished.
I tracked the hand quilting and hand binding on this one and it came out to
1/2 hour to mark the quilting lines.
5 1/2 hours to hand quilt it.
1 1/2 hour to bind and embroidery it.
The verdict is in, for now….
For the 7 hours involved (a good part of which was done as a passenger in a car) I suppose I will continue to hand quilt. I love the way it looks and I love the feeling that I’m stitching every quilt with love. I often second guess myself, knowing that I could produce more and faster, but for me and now, I’m going to continue to hand quilt.
What about you? What’s your choice for quilting? I’d really like to hear it if you think I’m just a stuck in the mud dinosaur and need to get help….
Off to my local quilt store this morning to hopefully find all the colors for my next Kona solids project. I’m *really* excited about this one. Everyone in our house has been involved in this project. Can’t wait until I have enough to share!
Hey, don’t forget to click on the WIP button at the top. There are some really cool things going on, all over the world!!
Sewfrench 
What a cute baby quilt! Isn’t it fun making quilts from your stash?
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What a lovely quilt..I really like the linking of the blocks…thank you for stopping by my page…
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That is a wonderful quilt. I always machine quilt. Hand is a four letter word for me. But, some people love it and that’s the way it is.
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OH! I love it…pinning it!!!!!!
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I absolutely love hand quilting. I usually save it for the special people though bc I usually make lap to king sized quilts. There’s no faking how much softer hand quilting is compared to machine.
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Absolutely gorgeous quilt! I’m abysmally slow at hand quilting and though I do like it, I like a finish even more. Plus I’m President of the Last Minute Club so I never leave myself enough time to hand quilt anything!
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What a fabulous quilt! Lucky new momma and baby!
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I love that quilt!
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This is such a pretty quilt! The design is one that i have seen before, but I have never really been too impressed with until seeing this. 🙂 I especially love how you made the intertwined squares larger and the focus of the quilt. The solids are perfect too!
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What a beautiful quilt … now I’m inspired! Thanks for the comment on my blog =)
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I love your little quilt & what great pictures!! Fun!
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so very cute! I love it and I love the photo with it tossed up in the air.
Karen
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Oh I love this!!! 🙂 Great colors! love the simplicity of it. 🙂
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Your quilt turned out great! Nicely done!
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Beautiful quilt…love the picture in the wind…probably couldn’t do that again if you tried. Enjoyed my visit.
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Your quilt is really great! There are no quilt police here. You should quilt the way that makes you happy. Hand quilting is lovely and a wonderful skill that many quilters never master. I don’t do it often, but I enjoy the soothing rhythm of hand stitching.
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That is such a cute quilt! I machine quilt everything and it is one of my favorite parts of the process. I think it is wonderful that people hand quilt, but I know that I would get frustrated and give up! My mom hand quilts everything that she gives as gifts, but she makes a lot of quilts for Project Linus so she machine quilts those.
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I too love the quilt and hand quilt myself.
I just enjoy it
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I really love these simple line quilts – and I also enjoy the hand quilting process although I don’t do it with everything!
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I love the simplicity and the colors of this quilt. The hand quilting makes it so special too. I started hand quilting last year after just being too tired to cram another quilt through a machine and now I’m addicted. It really does make a quilt more special!
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I love your quilt and I don’t think you are stuck in the mud with your hand quilting. It’s a great past time and there is really nothing like the rhythm of rocking the needle. It’s something I’m getting back in to. Every stitch is a stitch of love 🙂
Sometimes I think we are too caught up with trying to hurry on to the next quilt without appreciating each one. With hand quilting, you can take the time to soak in all the reasons we quilt in the first place.
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i’m 29 and a new quilter, and i’m really only interested in learning to quilt by hand. now, i’m not as young as i used to be, but as a person who can, for a little while longer, say that i’m in my twenties, i like to think of myself as part of a new generation of handworkers (i do do all my sewing and mending by hand, and very much enjoy it even if it take more time. the portability is a huge plus!).
i’m so happy that some from generations before me have held on to the older ways of quilting and other hand work, or i’d have no one to learn from, and these skills would be lost. so a hearty thank you! and a very lovely quilt indeed.
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I would love to find this pattern ! I am a newbie…have to have pattern or measurement !
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Gorgeous quilt – do you have a pattern for sale?
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