Hand quilting

This is one of my first quilting projects. I started this quilt for my son when he was still a little boy. The quilt top was machine pieced, but I started hand quilting the sandwich. It took long evenings, working on it section by section with a large wooden hoop. I eventually put it aside.

Four years ago, my son moved to Nashville to work with a ministry. We decided that we would drive him there. On the road, I continued to hand quilt in places that I had never finished. By the time we arrived, it was done "enough" to hold the center section well.

Time moves on, and when our son returned home, the quilt came home with him. This winter, on an unusually frigid night, ds asked for his quilt. I unfolded the quilt and placed it on his bed. Just then, I realized that I never quilted the borders. So when the cold nights passed, and the thoughts of washing this quilt came to mind, I thought it might be helpful to add some quilting to the borders.

My sister in love suggested that I just do some machine quilting on the borders. I considered it, but I do not want to take the binding off, as it has a bias binding. I never liked marking my quilts, after hearing some of the horror stories from other quilters. I recently tried a new fabric pencil by Sewline that I used when quilting my Bow Tuck Bag. But that was a smaller project. My biggest concern is that the borders are 2", 3", and 4" wide with the last two borders being dark, dark blue.

I may end up cross hatching the borders and use masking tape as a guide. But it is a project that will get me back to hand quilting. It will be a labor of love.

"There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child."
Henry Ward Beecher