Slow Sunday Stitching

Hello stitcher! Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party where we hope you will find lots of inspiration and encouragement to help you on your stitching journey!

Last week I was able to attend the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games and had the privilege of sitting around a quilt frame once again. I have really missed this! I have joined the stitchers in previous years and if you'd like to see some of the other quilts we've stitched on, just click on the year - 2012,  2014, 2016, and 2019.

What a delight to enjoy hand stitching with old and new friends once again! In the same tent, there were also embroidery displays, weavers, spinners, and of course, the bobbin lace makers.

I am always fascinated with the lace making  process and have decided that when I retire, I will take a class to learn this art form. In the meantime, I have been watching youtube videos to learn some basic techniques and the history of lace making.

In my own sewing room, I have finished stamp #5 - the bird bath block in the centre of Melisa's Spring Stamp Mystery SAL. I have started stamp #4 and hope to at least finish stitching the frame today. 

What are you stitching today? We look forward to seeing your progress!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching Hand Quilting

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Find one of your projects to put stitches into and join us while we make time to relax, breathe deeply, and settle in for some renewal and restoration.

This week I am hand quilting a hand embroidered project for the first time. The first lesson I learned was to be very careful to not put the quilting needle through the embroidery thread because this can happen! Somehow the quilting thread got knotted and I had to cut it, carefully extract it from the embroidered stitch, and remove the line of quilting to knot off the thread end properly. Lesson learned! Now I will carefully slipping each quilting stitch under the embroidery stitches.

Once I learned that lesson, it was smooth sailing... or rather smooth quilting! It's the perfect project to be working on in a time of upheaval in the world. I'm meditating on these words today - peace, hope and calm.

What are you hand stitching today?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to Slow Stitching Sunday where we make time to slow down our lives, to breathe deeply, to pick up a needle and thread, and take some slow stitches. 

Here are some reminders of how to enjoy the lovely autumn season.
Today we are celebrating  Halloween, so the trick and treaters will be coming around tonight. Last year was pretty quiet, so hopefully there will be more activity this year. 

I finished my  Halloween quilt this week and enjoyed sitting outdoors to hand stitch the binding on (probably) the last nice day of the season.

I just have to show you the next door  neighbour's beautiful tree that I was looking at while hand stitching the binding. Magnificent!

The wind will blow these leaves away within days, so it is a reminder to get outside and enjoy the glorious colours of nature while we can!

Pretty paisley border fabric

It's time once again to get to work on my oldest UFO. It's cold enough to have a large heavy quilt on my lap while stitching, and I'm enjoying quilting the straight line border design. I remember when I hemmed and hawed over the decision because I wanted to quilt the lines, but thought it was too simple, and I "should" stitch a feather design or a cable or a more complex design. I'm SOOO happy that I went with something easy so this quilt can be finished within my lifetime (hopefully!) 

This is a terrible late night photo of the back of the quilt showing the stitching design along the edge. No one will notice the slightly wobbly "straight" line quilting.

What are you hand stitching today? Link up your blog post below and share your project with us!

Happy Halloween!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching linky party! 

BYOB and BYOP!

Due to covid restrictions for over a year and a half, we are quite out of practice for regular party protocol so I am to reminding you to "Bring Your Own Beverage" and "Bring Your Own Project" to this party! 

I have been hand quilting more Life is Beautiful blocks. On these blocks I use a good quality quilting thread quilt to quilt a horizontal and vertical line, then a circle around the 4 patch bullseye, and one echo circle. Then I put in big stitches all around the block with cheap thread. Stabilizing the edges makes the process much easier when it's time to put the blocks together in quilt-as-you-go style.

I managed to take an "action shot" this week while quilting. It's very s.l.o.w. stitching, so the photo is not blurred at all so you can see the "action"! LOL 

I do like these Thera Gloves for reducing hand pain, but would love to know if anyone has other product suggestions.

And in other exciting stitching news, my daughter has picked up her embroidery project. She has moved out again to go to grad school in another city, and she sent me an "action shot" from her high rise apartment. You can see granddog Max looking out the window. I miss them both, but am delighted to see them happy in their new home. And to see my daughter hand stitching makes me so happy in a way that I can't even explain! 

What are you hand stitching today?  Please link up your blog post below and share your projects with us. We'd liked to encourage you on your slow journey.

[**Sorry I had to put the comment moderation feature on my blog today since a bot took an interest in my blog and has been submitting dozens of creepy comments. When the bot moves on, I'll take the comment delay off again.]

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to our weekly hand stitching party!

Yesterday was International Quilting Day and I celebrated with my local guild as they co-hosted a full day of online events. I taught a hand quilting class with a slide show of my projects and demonstrated my technique on my current project. It reminded me of how much I truly love hand quilting and want this method of quilt making to be passed on to the next generation.

I put more stitches into this little lap quilt which was my demo project, and just love the texture that the wool batting gives. I think I'm sold on wool as my new favourite batting! 

What did you work on for International Quilting Day?? What are you putting stitches into today?

Happy 1st day of Spring everyone (or autumn if you live in another hemisphere) ! Please share your projects with us today!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

March Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! We encourage you to pick up one of your projects and put in a few stitches. And if you need a reminder about 13 of the benefits of hand stitching, click here. 

I am getting organized for my first online hand quilting class for International Quilting Day and am trying out a new (to me) thimble. I was intrigued by Becky Goldsmith's method using a cone thimble from the Thimble Lady. It's a very different hand motion than what I am used to with a traditional thimble, so I'll see if I can catch on to it or if it will be a passing fad for me. Have you tried out this thimble? Do you use a thimble for your hand stitching? Let us know in the comment section below.

These are my "go to" tools for hand quilting, plus a needle and sometimes a hoop. I'm getting projects ready to show for the class and it is reminding me of my long history of enjoying hand quilting. I'll be putting more stitches into this quilt today.

What are you working on? We hope you will link up your blog post below and share the progress you are making with your hand stitching projects.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the Slow Sunday Stitching party! We invite you to take some time today to power down your brain and enjoy the benefits of relaxation with your favourite hand work. 

This is an unusual hand stitching project that I worked on this week. This is a ball gown (for dress up purposes) with a broken zipper. A friend asked me to find a way to do it up in the back without using the zipper (due to "covid body expansion"). I found these cute little fasteners and hand stitched them to both sides of the zipper giving an inch of "expansion space". Hopefully that will work, and if it is still too tight, I found a red bias tape that could be threaded through the fasteners (like threading up a corset) starting at the bottom and tying up at the top. Where there's a will, there's a way!

I also became motivated to hand quilt a scrap project that I started in October. I wanted to try out a wool batt so I could develop an opinion on using it for hand quilting. I pin basted using my favourite "Kwik Klip" tool, which has been so well used that the product name has worn right off the handle!

This is a small project at about 27" square so I don't need a hoop. I wasn't sure how this combination (cotton top, wool batt, flannel backing) was going to be like to hand quilt and it's like "a hot knife through butter" as they say.

I plan to use this project as a teaching sample for the hand quilting class I am teaching on International Quilting Day on March 20th. My class is called "Stillness and Stitches in Solitude". My quilt guild is planning a big online event that you can join for only $20. We know how to have a party, so I know for sure it will be fun!

So what are you hand stitching this week? Share your slow stitching progress with us and we will cheer you on!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! 

It has been a spectacular fall here in Southern Ontario with a display of colour like I can't ever remember. I have taken many photos to enjoy over the winter to remember these beautiful sunny days.

Last weekend I took a class with Sujata Shah of The Root Connection. 

My Kawandi quilt was inspired by the beautiful fall colours. It was my first online quilting class and I really enjoyed it. 

This kind of quilt making is all by hand and I loved that about it! I didn't have the right needle, but I made it work for the class. You can see that my first row of stitches (which goes through many layers of fabrics) was much bigger than my second row.

Here is the corner of the quilt with the "fula". The Siddi quilt is considered naked without them, so there's my version of a fula. You can see that my stitches are starting to look a little less like they were made by a drunken sailor!

It made me feel like my old (pre-2020) self again seeing beautiful quilts, learning something new, hearing about Siddi quilt makers, and doing some hand stitches together with other women around the world. 

Leave a comment and/or link up your blog post and share what you are hand stitching today. Then make yourself a cup of tea or coffee to enjoy while visiting the blog links and being inspired by what other people are creating with their own two hands.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly link up that celebrates the art of hand stitching! 
Why not get your project out and enjoy some relaxation?  Try not to think about your "to-do" list, or ruminate about your worries. Just take a stitching break and focus on pulling thread through fabric or knitting stitches with yarn. 
We are in the middle of a winter snow storm here and had 15 cm of snow fall yesterday. That is perfect weather to stay home and quilt! I pulled out my oldest UFO for some relaxing stitching time. 

some quilted stars

I have been working on this quilt on and off since 1996! True story! The quilt top was pieced at my very first retreat, and in 2012 the border was added. Yes it took a long time... I had two little kids and two part time jobs (oh yah, and I also  started about a hundred other UFOs!)
Then in 2015 the quilt was pin basted and hand quilting was started. So that's only 5+ years in the quilting stage so far. That's a perfect Slow Sunday Stitching pace!

some unquilted stars (with pins)

Here is an area in need of some stitching. As I quilt an area, I remove the pins so can tell at a glance which blocks still need quilting. Even after all these years, I still love the square in a square quilting pattern that I chose. I'll be quilting the centre of this blue star this morning.


What are you hand stitching today? We would love to see your slow progress! Share your instagram photos and blog posts below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Summer Hand Quilting Project

In January I started the hand piecing quilt along over at Elm Street Quilts. Nine block patterns were taught and I finished my sampler at the end of April (you can see it here). 
Because the quilt top was completely made by hand, I decided it should also be hand quilted. It is the perfectly sized summer take along hand stitching project, so this week I got the quilt top pin basted and started quilting.

Kristin and Patty (project creators) named 5 of the complex patterns after the names of the characters in a book called Friendship Album 1933 written by Frances O'Roark Dowell.  The names are Eula, Bess, Dorothy, Florence, and Emmeline. While I have been quilting this project, I have been listening to the free podcasts of the author reading her historical novel about a quilting bee in the 1930s. The quilters are contemplating making quilts for the Chicago World's Fair and although there are a lot of characters to keep track of, I'm really enjoying the story so far.

Because it's a small project, I am not using a hoop for the quilting, which is a little bit different for me. 
I'm calling my quilt "Friendship Album" (named after the novel) and as you can see I'm just starting to quilt the "Eula" block, who is one of the main characters in the story.

A New Year of Slow Sunday Stitching!

Welcome to the weekly link up celebrating the art of hand stitching! We are interested in anything you are stitching with your very own hands including knitting, tatting, applique, hand piecing, rug making, english paper piecing, quilting, embroidery, cross stitch, and beading. 

It has been really cold here this year so far with record breaking low temperatures. It's too cold to go outside, so the best thing to do is stay indoors and do some stitching! As I am writing this blog post it is minus 25 degrees Celsius. Along with this type of weather comes cold and flu season, and I have finally succumbed. I was so happy to be healthy through the holidays, but my good luck has run out and I am in bed this weekend with a fever, a rattly chest cold, and achy bones.

And meanwhile Mr. Max has been refusing to go outside to do his business because it's too cold! But he's only too happy to cuddle up in a quilt! As soon as I got this quilt out earlier in the week to figure out where to move the hoop to next, he was sooo happy! He was rolling around and delighted to snuggle up to my side while I put in a few stitches. 
I won't be doing any hand stitching today, but I will enjoy reading what you are working on. Link up your blog post below and share your first project of 2018.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly Slow Sunday Stitching link up! 
This is where the hand stitchers gather to share the projects they are working on. When you create something with your own hands (not with a machine) it takes a lot longer to finish it. You have to develop perseverance and patience while you make a little bit of progress at a time. You learn to notice and appreciate the small things, and savour the feeling of accomplishment for each small step toward the finish. Sometimes it takes years to sustain the interest in the project. 

Grandma, how's the quilting coming along?!

Such is the case with my oldest UFO which I have been working on (or storing!) for 21 years!
It was pieced in 1996, and the border was added in 2012. 
For real! 

It was pin basted in 2015 and then the hand quilting was started. It's a really big quilt, and too hot to sit under in the summer, so it's a project I only work on in the winter. The time has come to put it away until the cool weather arrives again in the fall. This is the "high tech" chart I made to keep track of my stitching progress over the years.
This is the stitching finished so far:
11 of the 20 large stars done
16 of the 32 small stars done
26 of the 31 diamonds done

That's pretty good... more than half way there, not including the border. Today I am appreciating the progress and pondering how I might eventually quilt the border.
Now it's your turn... please link up your blogpost below and share the progress you are making on your slow stitching projects. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly link up that celebrates the art of hand stitching! 
Make a cup of your preferred beverage, grab a snack (you'll be here for a while), and enjoy clicking through the amazing blog links below from hand stitchers around the world. Last week there were 48 amazing posts showing us incredible hand stitching projects. I was truly inspired!
It's been a busy week for me and I'm really looking forward to some slow stitching time today. I've almost completed the embroidery on my 30th Life is Beautiful block, which I'll show next week and write an update on that project.
But today I want to do some hand quilting on my oldest UFO. I spread it out on the bed to see where I want to quilt today, and in all truthfulness, to admire my stitching so far :)

Here's the update of the quilted blocks so far:
*9 of 20 large 12" stars (quilted 1/4" inside the seams)
*14 of 32 small 6" stars (also quilted 1/4" inside the seams)
*21 of 31 diamonds which are quilted with a square in a square design 
Slow progress is being made... just like we like it!

1 Year of Stitches - week #3

And here is a terrible night time photo of my 1 Year of Stitches project. I'm not really fond of my additions this week, but that's life. Love isn't always smooth sailing or pretty looking, and neither is stitching sometimes!
So what are you planning to work on today? Link up your blog post of your hand stitching project and share your progress.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Slow Sunday Stitching

Bow Tie Quilt

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate the art of hand stitched creations!
Did you know that I just finished hand quilting my bow tie quilt? It was such a great take-along project over the last few months, and I am so pleased with the finish!
So what will I work on now? I guess the time has come to get out my winter hand quilting project. It's a big quilt, and it's heavy and warm, so it's perfect to work on at this time of year. 

Do you remember seeing this quilt last winter? It has been in progress since 1996 and therefore celebrated it's 20th birthday this year. It has the ceremonious distinction of being my oldest UFO! And I still really like it and enjoy quilting the blocks. I can't help but wonder if this will be it's last year as a UFO?

I made this weird little chart to help me keep track of the quilting progress. It looks like the block quilting is approaching the half way done mark. I'm starting to think about how I want to quilt the edge blocks and the border. I do really like just quilting straight lines on a border, but is that too old fashioned now?

What are you hand stitching? Are you working any Christmas gifts? I should be, but I'm just not motivated yet!
Link up your blog post below and share with us what you are hand stitching today.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up