spoon quilting

There's been some interest and curiosity expressed in my using TJ's quick quilter to spoon quilt so I thought I'd try and explain a few things about it here. I don't consider myself an expert by any means but I can tell you how I manage it.
This is how I hold the spoon underneath the quilt sandwich which is not taught in the hoop.The purpose of the spoon is to create a ridge for the needle to glance off.
Here you see it being pushed up in front of the needle to create that ridge. The spoon is moved back towards the needle. The tip of the needle hits the spoon, you can feel it.

The needle is balanced back as in rocker quilting to push the needle forward off the ridge of the spoon. Once the needle comes through to the front, the spoon is relaxed and moving forward in the same moment to put the needle back into the quilt sandwich. The spoon is again moved back and up to create the ridge again.

Essentially, the spoon moves forwards and back, forwards and back while rocker quilting. The spoon is the substitute for the index finger underneath. There is a rhythm to it and like anything I guess it's practice. It didn't take me too long because I was already using a substitute for my finger underneath. All these photos are able to be clicked on for the close ups.

Jinny Beyer has some information here as well.

What was I thinking?

You may remember this top I made last year that I wrote about here.  I basted it up this weekend using Sharon Schamber's method that I've used before quite successfully.
The links to the how to videos are on this post. if you haven't seen them before.

Once I had it basted up, I attached the quilt to the planks of wood from my old basting frame because I had this bright idea that I might like to learn how to quilt in a frame. The frame quilters over on the blog Celebrate Hand Quilting have inspired me.

It might be a bit of a grand plan but I thought if others could do it, maybe I could teach myself. I'm using Quilters Dream wool so it'll be easy to needle.

I have now taken over the lounge which is OK because we're going away for Christmas day anyway so no visitors are expected.

So here's what I was thinking.
I'll be able to quilt through summer.
The top won't get dirty from being flung around.
The quilt will stay nice and straight.
I'll be humble about my stitches and not worry about how big they are. I'll aim for even and be happy if that's how they turn out.
It's supposed to be quicker as there's no constant readjusting of the hoop.
I've only tried frame quilting once years ago but I didn't get to do any thumb quilting. A minor hitch, surely.

Here's the reality.
I can only stitch as far as my arm reaches and I can't turn the quilt.
The thumb thimble I have is bulky, heavy and I don't like it. I may have to wait for my new thumb thimble I ordered.
I can't use my quilter's spoon underneath the quilt, I may have to poke my fingers with the needle.
I feel out of my depth and comfort zone but I'll give it about 20 hours and if there's no improvement, I'll go back to the trusty hoop for this one. Wish me luck and I'll report back later on.

Handquilting

Here you see the tools I use for hand quilting. I use the spoon method using the TJ quick quilter underneath, I used to use a thimble, the old spoons from the op shop and then I discovered this tool.
I have also taken to using a rubber finger on my index finger to pull the needle through and reduce some hand strain. I've used all sorts of thimbles, this is not the best one I've used but it is the cheapest and doesn't wear out. My hoop is only a 14 inch because I have short arms

I am a self taught quilter because when I wanted to learn how to quilt in the traditional rocker method, nobody would teach me. I practically begged other quilters to teach me since there were no classes. I tell you, I would have walked on glass but no, nobody took me under their wing.

Now this sounds unusual for quilters not to share but I've come to understand why. I think they felt that the way they did it might not have been the "real way" and they didn't want to corrupt me. The answer was always, you have to learn your own way because everybody does it differently.

I got every book out from the guild library and proceeded to teach myself. I tried just using my finger underneath to feel the tip of the needle, I couldn't do that, I kept subconsciously moving my nail in the way to avoid the pain until I lost that fingernail.

I switched to a rounded thimble on the underneath finger and that was working. Of course I had read that 12 stitches to the inch, top and bottom was the goal to be a good quilter. I no longer believe that! I impose my own standards now to please myself!I have to say that the perseverance paid off, why did I persist when I could have given up? There were no long arm machine quilters, big stitch hadn't taken off, and machine quilting wasn't what I wanted to do.

I now have the pleasure that hand quilting gives me, the quiet moments of the needle moving in and out, creating the soft wrinkly texture of a quilt coming alive.

I can't beat the feel and look of a hand quilted item made by my own hands.