Sunday, October 25, 2015

Slow Sunday Stitching



Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts! Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and join us to celebrate the experience of living life more deliberately and slowly.



I am so happy today to be hand stitching the binding on my October UFO. I cut these lime green scraps from the quilt top and backing to make up over 360" of binding.



It is now attached to the quilt and I'm plan to spend the better part of today hand stitching it to the back of the quilt.




Busy brain
Why do I stitch by hand when I can make a machine finished binding in a fraction of the time?  For me hand stitching is all about how it makes me feel. It forces me to slow down, calm down, power down. It's like yoga stitching. It brings me out of my head and into my body, into my hands, into the enjoyment of this moment. I breath deeper, and feel the relaxation increase as I take each stitch. 
How are you relaxing with hand stitching today?
Tell us about how you benefit from stitching slowly and link up your blog post below. 



26 comments:

Gina said...

I hand stitch as it means I'm spending time downstairs with the hubby. I'm lucky enough to have a sewing room so any machine sewing is done upstairs. Plus I prefer the look of hand stitched bindings xx

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

You have to be so happy to be done with the wrestling with the quilt stage and on to the hand sewing! :)

The Cozy Quilter said...

That green is my favourite green! You must be thrilled to finish this quilt!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I hand stitch because I just plain love it. I have to have something in my hands when I sit to watch tv or chat - it calms me, relaxes me - it is my stress reducer

Stephie said...

You're so right Kathy, slow stitching is all about how it makes me feel too. It's about enjoying the process, not just heading at full speed to your goal. Have a lovely time binding today, it sounds like a relaxing, fun day ahead for you 😊

Sherill said...

I so enjoy your blog! Slow Stitching Sundays allows time to catch up with what others are doing to distress, calm down and relax! That is what slow stitching means to me.

Turid said...

So many fantastic greens. This will be beautiful. I've linked a post telling what I did with the extra hour we got today.

Juliann in WA said...

Fiber Yoga! I think this could be a thing!

Cathy said...

It’s funny that I love hand stitching, and yet hate hand stitching the binding on a quilt.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on getting to the binding stage! Thanks for having the linky for us to share our projects!

Rebecca said...

I have to favorite parts of quilt making. Picking the colors and then binding by hand. That last step says done and good and gives me one last chance to add a dash of magic to the finished project.

Ivani said...

Binding is a step for done! Happy stitching!!

Angie said...

I love your term "yoga stitching" - it's a perfect description for hand-stitching the binding of a quilt!

Karen in Breezy Point said...

Fun binding fabrics! I just find any kind of hand stitching relaxing--except when my thread snarls--lol!

Anonymous said...

Wow. That is lots of binding. Chartreuse green is one of my new favorite colors.

Sarah said...

Ooh lovely greens. Enjoy your slow Sunday stitching!

Julierose said...

Hi kathy--I'm baaack ;--)). Lovely rain here, perfect for some cozy hand sewing and une tasse du the....a cuppa!! Enjoying all your peeps' sewing...hugs, Julierose

Jill said...

What a fun selection of greens! I enjoy hand-stitching the binding, although I have been known to machine stitch a binding if it's a quilt that will get a lot of use (baby quilt, etc), or if I need to finish the quilt quickly.

Unknown said...

So cool! I used your green binding fabric as the backing and binding on my Celtic Solstice and leftovers in an Easy Street that I made later. I just...and I mean just now!..pulled out the scraps of what was left to make a pillowcase for the Easy Street, as it is required for quilts being entered in our county fair (Volusia Co, FL).

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Hand stitching is relaxing (most of the time). It is nice to 'step away' from the machine at times.

CathieJ said...

Enhoy your binding today Kathy. I always find the binding to be one of the best parts of the quilt. I know when I finish that stitching the quilt is well and truly done!

audrey said...

Thanks for a fun linkup. Love your post today!

Anonymous said...

I have a few busy weeks ahead of me, so hand stitching is very important. I'm hand-stitching a binding today - an activity I truly needed.

Ellen said...

Love those greens....you are on the home stretch!!!!

Kate said...

It's always fun to take that last stitch in a binding. Hope you got there last weekend.

Denise :) said...

I adore hand-stitching. I'm not great at hand quilting, but I love the process of it! :)