I have been doing some hand stitching. Who…me? Yeah. It’s something I don’t do a lot of, but there was a project in the 2007 Quilting Arts Gifts issue that caught my eye. As Christmas approaches, I am thinking about a present for a certain friend. It’s a quilted bag by Linda and Laura Kemshall on page 21. I figured the hand stitching is something I can do in the evenings while watching tv…and then there’s election day coming up. I will need some handwork to do!

I don’t do much hand quilting…like, none, to be exact. Not thinking, I layered my layers with a piece of cotton batting, since I use that exclusively in my quilts and only have that around. I will have to remind myself not to do that again! Hand quilting with cotton batting is not good. It will take much longer, I can tell. And I’m only working on a 14″ square. Here is the full view of the first stage in progress…layered paint rag, polyester sheers, dryer sheets, painted cheesecloth…

…and the close up view…

…this is kind of fun…I just have to remember to use some poly felt for the batting next time!