Quilt in a Day Forums

I just ordered Linda Franz "Quilted Diamonds" combo. Does anyone have this collection. I like to hand piece and quilt but would like to learn more.

There are several hand quilters on the forum. I'm sure one of them will pop in soon.

Is that a book and dvd combo?

I don't hand piece, well except once I made a grandmothers garden block and hand pieced it. I found it easier to do that then by machine. Anything that has a Y seam I think easier to hand piece. I like to keep life simple,so I stick to easy shapes like squares and triangles and use my sewing machine. LOL I do hand quilt, right now I am learning a technique that Jean Brown uses and teaches. After three sessions of practicing and watching her on line video over and over I finally am doing it and can say my stitches are pretty even. It won't be long and I think I will speeding along. I wanted to give up the rocking method for two reasons. One, it bothered by carpal tunnel and Jean's method is more portable and faster.

Where is the Jean Brown method found?

You can find Jean Brown at jeansimpressions.com

I believe there is a video clip to show you what she does. She makes hand quilting look so slick. Thats what I alsways imagined hand quilting to be but have not achieved it yet.

Hope this helps a bit.

I will soon be hand quilting the layers of my quilt and I do have a few questions for you quilter's out their. I'm using cotton material,It what the insert in the middle of the material said! can I use cotton thread or do I need to buy hand quilting thread and if so what is the difference? What is the best way to tie knots in-between layers. First time quilter. Going to use q-frame holder.

girl...use hand quilting thread it's stronger. When you make your knot you pop it through the top layer into the batting. This hides the knots.

In my q frame, I first smooth and tighten the quilt (rolling each of the clamps away from the center)to make sure there aren't any wrinkles to quilt in. Then I loosen by rolling the clamps back towards the center of the quilt. I find that my stitches are smaller and more even if the fabric isn't too tight.

I also prefer the quilting thread, although I have used all-purpose thread, and used beeswax or quilter's heaven to reduce the tangling.

I can't live without a good thimble - My favorite has a ridge around the top to keep the needle from slipping.

I am just learning to hand quilt and I stink at it but I'm determined to keep going I machine piece but want to do my big quilts by hand because of trying to fit them thru my machine so I'm hand quilting a table runner I'm just outlining it and my stiches are gone wild LOL Tina

hand quilting is like everything else. practice, practice, practice!!!!! don't worry so much what your stitches look like at first. just keep working at it and you will get better. I always tell everyone not to rip out imperfect and inconsistent stitching, because that becomes too discouraging and you will never get anything done. The close tiny stitches come with practice. and stay away from quilting in the ditch at first. try doing zig zag or crosshatches across the quilt. I use chalk for marking.