Romancing the Needle

I started making (or at least trying to make) quilts around 1993.  The message from the local guild was all about machine quilting...Machine piecing was a given. 

I remember members not being especially impressed with people that hand quilted; all the cool people were mastering machine quilting.

Hand stitching is a slow process.  I  think of it as "slow for my soul". 

Hand stitching offers no speed, no glory for lightning fast completions, and very few adrenaline rushes. 

But with mastery of the needle, one gains much more than speed;
deep satisfaction, peace, and joy come to mind.

My world may be spinning off its axis, but with just a few quiet  needle-fulls of stitches, peace will enter my heart again.  This never ceases to amaze me!

If hand stitching intrigues you, please make an effort to try it.  Then practice it again and again.  I think we prefer to skip the practicing but it's a necessary part of learning something new. As your skills increase, you will relax and reap the sweet soul food from your time spent stitching.

I'm thankful to have a machine and it is the perfect answer to many projects. 
But now my hands get some of the projects, too.  Those tend to be my favorites...the ones I get to know the best.


many blessings,
pam