Some thoughts: I really love hand quilting. It just soothes my soul, somehow, and yet I rarely make time for it at home. All the bustle of working and keeping house and laundry and cleaning...it just seems so important to keep it all done and up to date...and yet? What will it matter in 50 years how clean a home I kept? Or will it make more difference that I made some quilts, with my own hand stitches, to endure for maybe a generation or two more? I need those stitches...really do. So, I am going to hand quilt a bit each day, and enjoy that comfort and zen that comes from the repetitive stitches and the needle going in and out of fabric.
Have a great day, each of you!
Julie
18 comments:
Truly, I think what’s important is how those things make you feel in the moment. Your work is always so lovely and so thoughtfully made and clearly fills a need to help you add balance to your heavy work load.
That's something I've never done--hand quilting. And at this point, I never will. I guess my cross-stitching is close enough! LOL And I'm glad you said cleaning house might not be that important!
quilting every day is like therapy....it does heal a lot of wounds and soothe frayed nerves...best blood pressure medicine i ever had...
I feel the same about embroidery and counted cross-stitch, but I haven't worked on it for years.
I SO agree with you about the hand-quilting. I have been doing it again lately, and it is so far removed from hurriedly machine-quilting something just to get it done. Don't get me wrong...with the time crunch on with me working this year, I have one that I hopefully will be machine-quilting this week. But it soothes me so much to look at the little rows of tiny stitches and knowing that each one was put in by my own hand.
Thanks for sharing !
Well said! I hope our quilting will bring a smile to the next generation or two. They won't know if the dishes were done or not!! LOL
Hi Julie--I too love to hand quilt--and have enjoyed the peacefulness of doing it--
and I have a big pile of quilts--even basted--just waiting for me and that needle-yet I too seem to let other things get in the way-so one of my goals for 2018 is to hand quilt for at least 30 minutes each day--and hope for an hour each day or more--so shall we keep a log of how many minutes we stitch each day and share that?????
enjoy the moments,di
Definitely, the hand quilting will last longer than the house cleaning, unless someone shares a picture of your dirty house online. Then it too will live forever. LOL Handwork brings me the sense of calmness too, and I think you should do more of that.
I'm having a hard time to sit and hand quilt lately also. But once I've start it's hard to stop because the feeling is so welcome. Like a soothing balm on my busy mind. If I were to think I am doing quilts for others, I wouldn't quilt. It is so much work. So it's all about how I feel and when the quilt is all done, it's all about the fun of giving it. Enjoy the slow stitches. ;^)
An older wise woman who I admired once told me when we are on our death bed, we won't be saying, "Darn, I wish I would have kept my house cleaner!"
Let's do what matters....
I hear you about the hand quilting. My goal is to sit and hand quilt at least a half an hour each day that I am off this break. And I'm not sure I could make a whole two-color quilt either. I need more variety in my life or I get bored or distracted.
lol! I hear ya'! And, it's TRUE! When I was super sick a couple years ago...and spent a couple of weeks in a hospital bed (and a couple months at home recovering)...not ONCE did I wonder if my house was clean? lol! Stitch on and do what it takes to stay healthy! :-)
You echo my thoughts about hand quilting, and hand stitching in general. When I (finally) complete hand quilting a piece, there is such a feeling of satisfaction that isn't the same with a machine quilted quilt. Housework will always be there but finishing it never seems to happen!
Very inspiring. I love the thought that in a hundred years someone will find an old quilt that one of us made. That is real history. The red and white quilt is very pretty.
The scrappy bow ties are more my style--I have such a hard time making two color quilts. :)
BTW, I think the red/white quit show was the year I started blogging and that was 2011. My how time flies! LOL
It seems hard to have to 'make time' for something so simple, but it really is worth it! I absolutely love hand quilting 5-6 nights a week, even if it's a very short amount of time. My equilibrium in this fast paced world depends on it! And the amazing thing is when you do it all the time, you stop fretting about how long each quilt is taking and they just start getting finished up, little by little!
I so agree... there is something so soothing about having a needle and thread in my hand! I guess that's why I enjoy putting bindings on quilts!
YES! You go girl!
You can write your name on the dust in my house... and I don't care.
Hand stitching is the only sanity in my life!
Enjoy!
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