Sunday, July 01, 2012

Hand Stitching on Sunday #2

Happy Canada Day!
This week I have been hand stitching the binding on my June UFO quilt. You can see a photo of the finished quilt on this blog post from yesterday. Binding a quilt is one of my all time favorite hand stitching activities. It's quicker and easier to do by machine, but I will do it by hand, for as long as my hands allow me to!
While stitching I have been watching DVDs of Downton Abbey, which is such a great series. I was catching up on some snail mail correspondence (yep...I do still use the postal service!) and couldn't resist taking a photo of the envelopes going out in yesterday's mail. If you've watched Downton Abbey, you'll know the significance of the letters, and here's a little video montage of all the mail from the first 7 episodes...can you remember the news in each letter?!? Aren't the outfits spectacular?!?

Okay...back to stitching...are you doing any hand work this week? Any snail stitching that you can share with other blog readers?
A big thank you to the bloggers Teresa, Diane, Angela, Jo, Audrey, and Ruth who linked up their hand work posts last week. It was so inspiring to see what you are working on, that I have decided to try to entice you to participate in the  weekly link up by having a draw for a gift. I will put one entry into a draw for each of the link ups on the Hand Stitching on Sunday posts and at the end of the month one lucky blogger will win a little "hand work" gift. So much fun! Don't be shy...tell us what you're stitching!

13 comments:

beaquilter said...

I just POSTED about binding yesterday.... I love it too and do it by hand too, I don't like to see the machine stitching, because it's never "perfect". doing it by hand is so much nicer

Heather said...

I didn't do any sewing this week. Had to clear off the sewing table to host a bridal tea party for my neighbour. Since we are going on vacation, yesterday I took my machine into the shop for a de-linting and tension tune-up.

I also like lettermail and wrote out and posted at least 7 postcards yesterday. I try and send at least one postcard a week. Will be sending more on vacation.

Ellen said...

Thanks for the link-up - I look forward to visiting everyone and seeing their hand-work.

I also like hand stitching the binding down. I find it very relaxing and rewarding. I love the feeling of holding and touching the quilt while I finish it up.

Teresa in Music City said...

Well shucks!!! I had company this week and didn't get any hand sewing done at all :( But I'll do better next week for sure and come back to link up. We'll be traveling some next week, so I'll get lots of handwork time in :*)

Teresa in Music City said...

Oh and almost forgot.... I LOVE Downton Abbey!!! Can't wait for next season =^..^=

Judy D in WA said...

I too Love Downton Abbey and handwritten letters.
I love stitching down binding. I find it very soothing but I also machine stitch it down at times. Depends on the quilt.

Diane Kelsey said...

Just love Downtown Abbey too. Hand stitching the binding is so satisfying as you know you have almost finished the project.

Angie said...

Downton Abbey and hand stitching - perfect combination! I did the same thing earlier this year. I have some hand stitching projects in the preparation stage. I'm marking a small quilt for hand quilting and making the bias binding for another quilt. Looking forward to the gentle rhythm of hand sewing!

scraphappy said...

I almost forgot about handwork Sunday. What a nice tradition to start. I'm off to see if I can get some handwork ready for an upcoming car trip. Such a nice way to pass away the miles.

audrey said...

Thanks for the great link-up idea! Hand stitching is a little under appreciated at times and this makes it fun to even post about it.

Janet O. said...

I did some hand quilting on Tuesday and posted about it Wednesday. And I bound a little quilt by hand. It is nice to do something at a slower pace instead of always rushing to do something the fastest way!
I have even been known to unpick a machine bound quilt and rebind by hand--and I am a slow binder, but the quilts told me that is what they needed. : )

Deb A said...

Thanks for the linky on this! It is the push I need to get back to hand quilting these blocks.

sophie said...

The second season of Downton Abbey just became available on Hulu ... and as a result, I spent too much time last weekend in front of the TV. I should have had done handwork!