Hints, Howler and Stitches

I have been busy sewing. For now, all you'll see are hints. Mwa ha ha ha.

Just because she's gorgeous (and in the way!), here's Lily:

Even though he's not gorgeous -- but I did get a request -- here's Howler:

Doesn't he look put out that I'm taking his photo? Black cats are hard to photograph. He's a black hole, not to mention he gets nervous and runs whenever I pay too much attention to him with the camera.

Julie asked how I hand quilt multiple stitches and catch the backing on a single needle. Well truthfully I don't catch the backing with every stitch. When I first started out I was lucky to catch one in ten all the way through to the back. I just didn't worry about it and kept at it.

Bonnie once quilted her freehand fans from the back of the sandwich so that she could see where she was going. Not for me - my front stitches are definitely better than the ones on the back:

I can tell you what works for me to get multiple stitches on the needle. No hoop! No hoop, no frame, nothing. You can read more about it in my tutorial here. Since the quilt isn't stretched at all I have lots of flexibility to manuever the needle. That's what works for me anyway. That and practise, practise, practise.

By the way, my needles of choice are Richard Hemmings Large-Eye Betweens size 10.

Want to see some beautiful hand quilting and quilts? Sara recently posted about her great time at the Beaver Island Quilt Retreat with Gwen Marston - woohoo!!! Here's part one and part two. Sara took some great photos - just click and look at them closely.

The retreat this year was about solids and if these quilts look wonderful to you, then hop on over and check out Gwen's new book Ideas and Inspirations here on lulu (where you can also get the e-book) OR you can now get it directly from Gwen. Don't forget to tell her you you want it autographed. While you're there, pick up a copy of the now-out-of-print Liberated String Quilts - you won't regret it.

Indigo Threads Sharon has been working with some vintage 30's fabric. I love the first top in particular that she just completed as well as the pics of her kitties with the work in progress.

Jenny Bowker always posts some of the most incredible photos of Egypt and the Middle East, but in particular check out her post about the textile tour of Egypt and Syria.