hand quilted pillow: done!

Hand quilting is awesome.  It really is.  I can say that I'm officially hooked; I might even be working on a quilter's callous.

In November, I took the Whole Cloth Quilt class with Carolanne at the workroom.  It was an amazing experience.  Carolanne was a patient and encouraging teacher, and the afternoons were filled with fun conversation.

With the help of Carolanne, I decided to make a pillow for my whole cloth quilt, using a round stencil with oak leaves and acorns. Something that inspired by Fall seemed to go perfectly with the roses from Heather Ross' Far Far Away 2.  The hand quilting was done in a variegated embroidery thread from Valdani.  For the back of of the quilt, I used two Rapunzel prints from the same collection and covered buttons made with various scraps.

 

With the exception of my Avalon quilt, I had no previous experience with hand quilting, so I decided to keep my project small, and I'm so glad that I did.  I've only just finished it, but I can proudly say that my first hand quilting project is done.

Perhaps it's the cold weather, but I can't wait to do more.  In fact, I've been making some good progress on my Avalon, and I'm already planning on more hand quilting projects.