Time for some hand quilting!

There was a time I handquilted every top I made but those days are over. In the late nineties I began machine quilting most of my quilts but always had a handquilting project on the go. When my friend, Elaine started her quilting business"Quilting in the Vines" I started handing my tops to her for a quick and professional finish. It's always exciting to get the tops back from her and see how she has transformed them with amazing quilt designs I could never have done myself.
I don't want to lose my machine quilting or handquilting skills so I try and use them every now and then. The perfect opportunity for handquilting has presented itself. Only the most traditional tops that I feel deserve the time and effort are chosen for this treatment now. On my last 'very special' Birthday I received 14 beautifully hand appliqued blocks from one of my lovely Sewing Groups. I made an extra block and another friend, Sheridan made the 16th block. I now have the perfect number to put together into four rows of four blocks. I think you'll agree they are the perfect handquilting project to create an antique styled quilt.

A close-up of one of the blocks

Last night I added a 2" border of a lovely reproduction tone-on-tone fabric between all the blocks and 3" around the edges so the circles would float. Now I need to find some wadding that is recommended for handquilting.