My hand quilting experience continue..... Part 2

After the first quilt, I still didn't have the confidence in hand quilting.  I felt I didn't do it right because I mixed hand quilting with some machine quilting.  I was impatient and didn't have the right skills.  The machine quilting looks terrible too so I stopped after a few squares done.  Until today that poor quilt is still not done.

Then a few months ago, a daughter of a very dear friend of mine gave me a sewing machine and a quilt top that her mother made because she knew I'm a quilter.  This quilt is a California-king-size double wedding rings quilt.  My friend made this quilt top before she had a stroke.  Now living in an assisted living home, she can't use her right arm or leg.  I told her daughter that I'd finish the quilt and give it back to her.  I feel that this quilt should be with her family.  I want to hand quilt it because I knew my friend loves hand quilting.  She traced all the quilting patterns on all of the squares and hand quilted on one square already. 

I approached another dear friend, Jo Ann, who I know has done hand quilting on all her quilts.  Jo Ann is a quilter, a sewer and a crafty person all around.  Her husband is also a crafted metal worker.  Jo Ann agreed to teach me and help me with this project and we set out to do just that.  One fine day on her back porch, we set the quilt on a frame that her husband made for her.  So in the past few weeks I got to sit down and quilt with her.  It was so nice and relaxing.  We got to share stories and we laughed a lot.  Times went by so fast and I really had a good time.  In the mean time I also learned to make bread and jam from Jo Ann.  She is a wealth of knowledge.  She is also kind and always doing some- thing for someone.  She'll make bread or treats for friends when she hears that they're in a distressed situation.  What a great gal she is!

With Jo Ann's easy going approach, I have gained confidence and enjoy the process more.  We didn't strive for perfection.  We didn't count the number of stitch per inch.  She just said, 'make the stitch as even as possible', and that's what I focus on.  On one of the square, I took 3 hours to finish.  Jo Ann works so fast and the quilting is almost done.  I'll post more pictures later when it's done.

Now I feel confident that I can do hand quilting.  I will take off the machine quilting that I did on my first quilt and finish hand-quilting it at last.