Can't wait to see pictures.

Oh excellent! That's a great purchase. I've been wondering how you two liked the blocks.
Thank you so much for all your work. I continue to have alot of fun with my HSTs.

Patti (from the base of the palm of the hand!)

I don't even know how to begin to say thank you for all of the beautiful blocks that you created for me as a remembrance of our SoTTT exchange and the very generous monetary gift from so many of you. And to those of you who conspired to pull this off without me knowing about, Dawn Siden (Scoopie), Barbara Marcone (MakesGeese), Margo, Debbie Kendall and Rosemary Cousins, you did it!!!

I was totally blown away by all the wonderful blocks that I received from the United States, Provinces in Canada, Territories in Australia, and our other participating countries. The thought, time, effort and creativity put into each block was phenomenal. You have touched my heart and I will be forever grateful.

Rosemary, your presentation box was incredibly creative and surprisingly musical! You have a wonderful talent and are extremely generous and I sincerely thank you for that.

I had such a wonderful time at the TQS Dinner and I loved that I was able to meet so many of our SoTTT participants and other TQS members there, and also had a chance to meet even more of you at the TQS Meet & Greets. For those of you who were not able to see all the blocks, Dawn will be creating a Smilebox with pictures of these very special blocks and posting it on the TQS site, hopefully by the end of next week once she finally gets back to Montana and has a chance for some R&R. She put in such a tremendous effort on my behalf. In fact, I believe her efforts were right up there with the actual SoTTT exchange because she did so much to make it happen.

Now..do you want to know what I was able to purchase with your very generous gift? It was something I really, really wanted...the Accuquilt Go! Fabric Cutter along with a few dies, including the two Sarah Vedeler dies which can be used in the 2012 TQS BOM. I'm soooo excited and can't wait to start playing with it!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER!!!!!

Crocus999
Handwork and machine work are swapped back and forth all the time to finish the tops... why not the quilting. At least it would be very appropriate to finish Alex's HST with hand quilting. I could see her smile with that one. It really doesn't matter what we think because you have made your quilt and it really is up to you. Just enjoy the process of putting a little more of your heart into that very personal quilt. Maybe have a glass of wine before you start to loosen you up a little.

But, please not after many glasses. Hee Hee.

It is absolutely NOT cheating to do both!! Just do the best workmanship you can do with whatever technique you use. Every project you do will teach you something to improve on the next one. Enjoy the process and don't be too hard on yourself!

I freeze every time I get to the machine quilting on everything I make. And no matter how much I practice the machine quilting I always seem to make a mess on the real thing! I seem to do more 'frog' stitching than anything else these days. What I have learned though is that it takes so much more time to machine quilt than I had originally thought. But you know, every quilt top that I have seen on this project has been so beautiful that the quilting doesn't need to work too hard. Even simple cross-hatching would be lovely. Good luck and I look forward to seeing the finished quilts.

Rita.

It's very comforting to know I am not the only one who feels "frozen" in trying to finish this very special project.......Crocus summed it up very well! I like the idea of SITD to stabilize and then try some hand quilting when I have more time....thanks so much to all of you "baring your souls" about our collective predicament! Nancy

Hey, crocust999 were you reading my mind? These are all the things I was thinking. I don't thinks combing machine and hand quilting is cheating at all. I guess we just need to bite the bullet and get to our quilting.
It is our quilt after all.Whatever we do it will be fine.
crocus999 wrote:

Crocus I agree - it's your quilt & feel free to do what you want. You can SID to stablelize it & partially quilt in time for the deadline & then add more hand quilting later

Well you still need to use your hands, even when quilting using a machine to move the needle in and out of the fabric. I know I've come across quilts that use both techniques in the one item and made it into quilt shows, I would only say it was cheating if you tried passing off one method for another, which lets face it, isn't very likely is it? If that is how you are going to get it finished for the book deadline, presuming you wish to get into the book, go for it.

I also have my quilt ready, even sandwiched now, but not confident enough to do it by machine. It's such a personal quilt, with a big story, that I shy away from getting it done professionally - that seems like it would make it less personal. Then, do I hand quilt it? Not enough time, even if I started last spring. So maybe I'll SITD for the center and then handquilt the off white in the border. Do people do that, is it 'cheating' ? Part machine quilted and part hand quilted? However, my small table topper is 90% hand quilted ) I'm happy about that. I love the look of hand quilting.

Very nice Karen, this is the one I did also. I finally got mine sandwiched but haven't quilted it yet. Good luck with your practice. Shirley 35

I have my quilt top done. It has been hanging on the design wall several weeks now. I am procrastinating about getting started on the quilting. So whats new? I get this far and freeze. I know I know, I am supposed to keep practicing my machine quilting but I have not been doing my homework. I don't want to "practice" on this. That will be my goal this week. Practice, Practice, Practice.
Mine is just a small wallhanging size. I still have a few hsts left but there weren't enough to make another round. They will be going in another project I have in mind.

Teresa, your quilt is beautiful. I know what you mean about the calves. Sometimes I wish the barnlot was farther from the house , but I do like to watch the calves, especially on a cool morning.