Sunday, November 10, 2013

Slow Stitching Sunday - Handwriting

I was inspired recently by a really interesting post by Jane over at Jane's thread and Treasures. She shows her unique ideas for echo quilting in empty spaces, and she said that your quilting is like your handwriting and is completely unique to you.  

That made me think about the unique handwriting of my family members on my recipe cards. Each of these recipes is written by a family member that I can easily identify by their handwriting.
Handwriting is making your mark on paper - unique and special and precious. 

Stitching is exactly the same! You are making your mark on fabric - using the threads, thimbles and needles you prefer, the hoop that fits for you (or no hoop!),  and making the stitch length you are comfortable with. Each of us make stitches in our own creative way. 


I wrote about my imperfect quilting stitches here and how I like to "eyeball" without marking the quilting lines, especially on my Journey quilt.  I am filling in the larger blocks with a little bit of quilting and briefly considered the echo quilting idea, but went for something more loose and free. 




I am just quilting wavy lines across the blocks, between the words and around the embroidery stitching.

What are you stitching today? There is no "right" or "wrong" way to stitch. Just do it however you intuitively feel is comfortable for you. And link up your blog post below and share your project with us.






13 comments:

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

I'll be stitching away ( 2 more blocks and done ) on my son's couch quilt though I did not link that up...rather, I linked up pics from a local quilt show for your viewing pleasure. Oh some of the hand quilting was just wonderful to see! :)

Deb A said...

I love looking though my Mom's recipe card box - hand writing by my Grammy, Mom and friends are such neat memories. I love the tie between that and individual hand stitches. Because of you - I am not afraid to try things and show them on my blog. Every imperfect stitch is mine and I am so proud of them! Thanks for all you do to encourage us on our hand work.

Kate said...

I hadn't considered the connection between stitching and handwriting. An interesting thought.

Teresa in Music City said...

Such a cool insight Kathy! I can still recognize my grandmother's handwriting at a glance :*)

I really like the way you are quilting your Garden quilt - a wonderful interpretation of the loose, free atmosphere of the typical garden ♥

Jane in Cumbria said...

Isn't it wonderful, that we all quilt in our own way? I like the way you are doing your Garden quilt!

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

Wasn't Jane's quilt gorgeous! I love doing that type of free spirit quilting and hope to use that on my Baltimore garden. Happy Stitching!

Cathy Tomm said...

I love my hand written cards too. Get stitching.

Cathy said...

And to think there may not be many handwritten journals or cards for future generations to admire. I've made copies of fav family recipes that have been handed down and scrapbooked them - sometimes taking pictures of grandkids making the recipe. It might be fun to print copies of some handwritten family items to fabric and incorporate them into a quilt!

Wow, thanks for the link to Jane's quilt. That was awesome. Your quilt is awesome too.

Ivani said...

Just love the way you are quilting your garden quilt. Have a wonderful week.

audrey said...

I enjoyed Janes post too. I really love being able to quilt without marking, but not all my quilts would look good with that much free style work! Really appreciate all the positive encouragement from your blog and others to do things intuitively and what feels good.:)

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just saw your blog. I noticed a while ago, that when we type instead of write out each letter , we loose a connection that the brain makes with the hand. Im not sure what it is but i cannot spell as well as I use to when typing on a laptop. When I was hand writing everything it was easy to remember how to spell words..

margaret said...

a lovely piece of stitchery

Teresa Rawson said...

OMG...how cool to have those recipe cards...wouldn't be fun to go to the Spoonflower web site and make some neutral fabric featuring those? Now I am wondering what samples of writing I have around the house...hmmm...Teresa :o)