Quilting Is No Stitch And Bitch

I said to Christine Mitchell, the woman who has been really helping me the most since I started on my quilting  odyssey, that if it weren't for her I would have given up ages ago. 

If I had my time again, knowing what I know now about the art of quilting, the time it takes, the planning, the patience, the skill sets required, I would have been tools down after the first bell and never come back. It is the fact that Christine has assisted me and broken the back of some of the stages of work that has allowed me to stay with it. 

Tonight she had sewn the last of the panels together which I had sewed with her last week using a sewing machine. Tonight the process we were working on was called pinning and basting. As to what was what, I could not tell you. (I think it could be a typo. Could have been pinning in which case I now know what she meant). What I can tell you is that we were doing a running stitch to each end and then a single back stitch. We were attempting to bind together the quilt, the wadding and the backing together to prepare it for quilting (the art of sewing the layers together using a design). The class began at 6pm and went until 8pm at Hobby Sew in Ryde. To be frank, I was so slow on the hand work. Christine was zooming around me using her A game whilst I was sluggish and stabbing myself  over and over with the needle. Eventually she handed me a spoon to help me get the needle through the three layers and to prevent me from putting any more blood on the quilt. I am going to post a photo below, because it actually looks like we were getting into the Harry rather than doing any quilting. I have to be honest, if I were to do another major quilt, I might get stuck into the Harry before hand just to make the time go a little easier. 

It's not a Stitch And Bitch, it's more like a Sweat And Get Stabbed In The Finger kind of affair. At one stage Christine said 'oh, don't you complain about a little prick, wait until you get a needle up under your finger nail'. I almost fainted at the thought. 'You won't go around saying that tailors are wussies anymore'. I never did, but yes, it should be said, don't discount the number of times your tailor stabbed himself getting your suit made.

Yes I am balding, but concentrate on what I am doing with the stitch work.

A better angle

The quilt almost ready for quilting....

Not what it looks like, that spoon is there to help raise the needle so you can pull it through. No, we don't use China White at quilting. 

See my dainty fingers and be jealous. I am a man of needle and thread these days....