10. It makes my favorite pastime portable. I have spent many a swim lesson or dance practice piecing up a storm.

9. It gives me a glimpse into the past. I’m sure my skills are abyssmal compared to the skills of just about any woman who sewed before 1900. But still – I get a little vignette of what it was like to perform a very specific task (quilting! My favorite!) long ago.

8. Most quilters today don’t hand-piece: I’m unique!

7. It gives me the feeling that I am connected to a long line of women (and occasionally men) who suffered hardships and disappointments – but still managed to build their lives and give us the world we have today.

6. It can give you better control over the seam allowances. You are not restricted to the direction you can press them when a block is finished because they are always hanging out free-flappin’ style.

5. Yes, templates and using a scissors to cut out fabric is tedious. But did you know some shapes can be cut with a rotary cutter? You can also use precuts, too.

4. In some cases it actually is faster to piece by hand. Jenny Beyer claims she can piece just about any block faster than someone can make it on a machine. While I would not go that far I do think I can piece a curve nicer and faster than someone using a machine can.

3. My piecing is always more accurate when I do it with my hands than when I do it with a machine.

2. Creating it with my own hands instead of a machine gives me a little zing of 2-year-old-independent pride: I can look at it and think I made that all by myself.

1. It really is a zen thing. Getting my stitches going and developing a seam can be really soothing and calming. Look out, stress! Here comes my quilt!

First: a big Pioneer Quilter thanks to two of my heroes – Annie Smith of Quilting Stash and Jennifer Ruvalkaba of Patchwork and Pacifiers.  Annie was the first person to leave a comment on my podcast’s blog.  Jennifer mentioned me in episode #13 of her show.  Thank you so much for your encouragement, ladies!  I can’t tell you how excited I was when I realized you both might have taken a listen. 

And, yes, I am a dork.  I easily admit this.

Some other podcasts that I mention on today’s show:

• Alex Anderson’s Quilt Connection
• Allison’s Within a Quarter Inch

And one that is now retired but is still worth a listen:

Nadine Ruggle’s Driven to Quilt

Today my major topic is the Queen of Hand-piecing herself – Jinny Beyer.  IMO Jinny owns a great majority of the credit for the interest that hand-piecing has.  I would love to meet her in person some day…and taking a piecing class taught by her would be the bee’s knees.  Jinny, call me!