back to my roots - hand quilting

For 15 years, I quilted by hand. My friend Amy G. taught me how to quilt and she is a hand quilting genius. Her stitches are perfect and beautiful. And I wanted my quilts to be soft and special like hers. Plus, I liked that I could take my projects with me as I drove my kids around to all their activities.

Then I decided to buy a fancy new machine - a Bernina. And for the past half-dozen years I have been working only with the machine. I do love it. And it certainly is faster and allows me to expand my creativity.

But ever since I started piecing this quilt from my collection of antique Japanese indigo, I felt it just had to be hand quilted. This one is huge - so its going to take some time. But these old fabrics are already very old, some are at least half a century old or older, so I figure they can wait it out while I slowly stitch my way over this incredibly beautiful cloth.