Slow Sunday Stitching

It's Sunday - time for some rest and relaxation. I know it's the last Sunday before Christmas and everyone is working on frantic preparations and bordering on nervous breakdowns at the mall, but I encourage you to take even a few moments to slow down and enjoy some hand stitching. I read a great blog post about how to simplify the holidays, and used some slow stitching time this week to really think about this. Here are some of my thoughts:
1) Christmas goals need to be compatible with the amount of energy and time I have. For many years I pushed myself passed the point of exhaustion - unnecessarily. I wanted to create a perfect Christmas experience for my children. I have learned that a) I can do everything to the best of my ability and still can not make life/Christmas perfect for everyone, and b) everything that needs to get done, always gets done.  
If time runs out and it's not done, it wasn't really necessary! The same time pressure will start to build this year, only I will not be beside myself. I am trying to be more thoughtful, and more reflective about why I am doing the things I do, and asking myself "is this really important to me or my family?" I am not assuming I know the answers, I am asking them directly. 

Mums Relaxation

2) I must practice good self care. I don't want to sacrifice my health anymore and get run down "burning the candle at both ends", and then end up having the flu or a cold, or complete exhaustion over the holidays. So my biggest gift to myself this year is: I give myself enough time to do the jobs I need to do. And I rest when I need to, no matter how long the "to-do list" is.

3) I make time for brief slow stitching sessions. I have my project out where I can see it as a visual prompt to sit down and put in a few stitches, regroup, and then carry on. 
As a result I have finished the inside part of hand quilting on my sampler quilt! All 20 stars, 12 blocks and 31 sashings have been hand quilted.
The sun came out so I ran outside to take a picture of the quilt on the clothesline. It's a little wrinkly :)

I am still stuck on how to quilt the border and none of my ideas are inspiring me yet. So I will wait until an idea sticks. This is how it looks from the back. I love the texture of the red hand stitching on the gold fabric!
What are you hand stitching today? Are you feeling too busy to sit and stitch? I encourage you to take some time to slow down - you'll feel refreshed, and a little more "filled up". If you have time to make a blog post and link it below, we'd love to see what you're working on.