Hand Quilting with Aurifil 12wt

The November Aurifil Artisan challenge was hand quilting. I initially started to write an Instagram post, but the caption grew so long that the blog seemed like a better place to share!

I pulled out this mini quilt I’d made a few years ago but just didn’t know how to finish. I hand quilted it with Aurifil 12wt, but I had some trial and error before I really got into the groove of stitching. I really love the way the 12wt looks and feels for hand quilting. I had have only hand quilted with perle cotton in the past, which was more like embroidering than quilting because to get a large enough needle eye for the thread, I wasn’t able to make more than a stitch or so at a time, so I loved how the 12wt just glides through the fabric.

I didn’t have any hand quilting needles (oops!), so I used the milliners needles that I use for EPP and they worked great. I ran my thread through Sew Fine Thread Gloss which helped with knots and threading (and smells amazing!), and then used the stick-on Colonial Leather Thimbles (I am still trying to figure out the thimble thing, but these are my favorite so far!).

Part of the reason I hung on to this mini for so long was that I just wasn’t sure how to quilt it or what I wanted to make it into! I used some of my favorite Liberty of London fabrics, but always thought they were a big contrast to each other and to the linen (which was really hard to get accurate colors in photos on my phone!).

Now that I’m happy with the quilting, I just need to decide what I want to make this into. I started it thinking it would be a wall hanging, but then I thought it would make a great pillow too, and bring some cheeriness into a room!

What do you think? Pillow or wall hanging? Hopefully I’ll decide before it sits around for another three-ish years!