With my foster mother here, she has been tackling my to-do list with vim and vigor.  She already finished whip-stitching the binding on three quilts (two baby quilts and one lap quilt) and is working on a special baby quilt for the Quilts for Kids project sponsored by Downy fabric softener.  She wants to attempt to machine quilt this charity quilt as it’s something she hasn’t done before. 

But, her favorite thing is hand-quilting!  She has nearly finished a prayer/comfort shawl that I am way late in finishing and has another matching one waiting in the wings.  I enjoy her finished project of hand-quilting a quilted project as much as she does doing it!

All of her hard work has definitely inspired me to work on my own quilts, too.  I finished one this evening and have the “Chocolate Cake and Roses” quilt all ready except for the sashing and the borders.  Both of these will be long-arm quilted but I have a few quilt kits waiting in the wings if my FM wants to hand-quilt them.

Hand-quilting gives a very special meaning to some special quilts.  For instance, the comfort/prayer shawls she is hand-quilting were made when I was at her house this summer – and she met the lady who the shawls go to.  At that point, a quilted project becomes very personal – and with each quilted stitch the love from a quilted heart pours into the quilted project.  Nothing beats hand-quilting for a personal approach to quilting.  Unfortunately, I am hampered by too many distractions (kids, dogs, etc.) to get to spend much time hand-quilting anymore.  I gave it up when our kids were little – between them climbing all over my projects and my doggie laying on my quilt to get attention, I had to give it up.  I’m sure, as the years go by and the kids leave the nest, I’ll pick it back up and allow myself to regain the pleasure of hand-quilting my quilts.

I truly enjoy the fabric effects of both long-arm quilting and hand-quilting in my finished quilt projects.  How I determine which way to quilt one of my quilts depends on the special person the project is intended for.  And nothing beats sharing my quilted heart with others!