Echo Quilting By Hand

Seldom, if ever, do I purchase a complete "quilt kit" where all the fabric is offered with the pattern and instructions. However, this design by Lori Smith appealed to me, one of her Fit to Frame series. The fabrics in the package were charming, especially the background printed with subtle handwriting, which, although you can read some of the words, they don't really make sentences. It made a nice small project, handy for traveling. Oh, and there are birds, of course!

On a road trip to Florida, I decided to hand quilt this little project. I've always wanted to try echo quilting, so I used a snippet of 1/4-inch tape on my thumbnail to 'guesstimate' distances -- a trick shared by Virginia Siciliano. It was a lot of fun! I would do this style of hand quilting again.

However, in the end, as I prepared to trim the edges for binding, it suddenly occurred to me that all that precious little handwriting in the background fabric disappeared! Oh, I suppose I could take all that quilting out and start over -- NOT.

Lesson learned.... and now, lesson shared.