Hand Quilting a UFO

Back in early 2011 I made a quilt with Lori at her blog Humble Quilts. She begins each year with a fun little doll quilt tutorial--it's a fun, laid-back sort of project, and I always look forward to them.

It is called Cheddar and Crackers and that little doll quilt has camped out on my design wall for nearly 3 years, unfortunately. Once I finished the flimsy I just left it hanging. Fast forward to 2014. The Frankfort girls decide to devote the year to finishing UFOs with a friendly challenge. Finishing this doll quilt made it onto my list, and I've removed it from the design wall at long last. It is now safely tucked into a quilting frame that I can carry with me to work on when handwork is warranted.

Let me talk to you a little bit how I am quilting this. I was inspired by that talk at the Laurie Simpson trunk show last month at Old Town Fabric Shop. She explained that she hand quilts many of her creations free-handed. Yes, you read that right - free-handed. I saw some of those quilts with my own eyes and they were lovely. So I decided that a little doll quilt might be just the right quilt to experiment on with my own free-handed quilting.

The object is to make bigger stitches than you might normally think is acceptable, and to not worry about everything being even and symmetrical. The quilt below is one of Laurie's from the trunk show. If you click on the picture and get an enlarged version, I think the stitching will show up more clearly.

Okay. I am giving it a go. Laurie says it is a faster way to get a big project hand-quilted. With just the little bit that I have done, I can concur that it is faster. I think I am going to like it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!