Hand quilting

I got busy hand quilting last night.  The time flew by and I had to tell myself to go to bed as I could have spent the whole night stitching away.  It is pure heaven.  It's so rhythmic and rewarding.  I woke early, such is my level of excitement, and quickly got in another half hour before work.  Bliss I tell you, sitting stitching and sipping my morning cuppa.

I've put a row of stitching in half the quilt. I'm using 5 different Perle 8 thread colours.  I'm stitching each strip of fabric once, then I'm going to review and decide whether to put in more rows of stitching.  I've tacked the layers together, which I'm finding easier than negotiating pins, but a bit more time consuming in the preparation-to-quilt stage.  I've had abandoned the hoop and I'm not missing it one little bit.  I found it to awkward and cumbersome and moving it all the time, well hats off to those of you that have that patience!  It sure ain't me!  Partly because so far I've used fairly big stitches and I like to just get on with a whole row.  I'm too clumsy with the hoop and don't get any rhythm up.  I like rhythm.  My hand quilting feels absolutely melodic in a very organic kind of way.