Tag: the Slow Stitching Movement

Hexagon Go-Slow Sunday Stitching

by Kay, posted in WIPs

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I think I have taken Slow Sunday Stitching to the extreme with these flower pots, but I have an excuse as the last picture will reveal!

They are to be appliqued to a background rather than finish the quilt entirely in hexagons

 

…and the reason they have taken so long? See below!

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The flower on the left is made from ‘normal’ sized hexagons  of 1 1/2 inches. Can you guess the size of the others?

If you would like to see more slow stitching posts why not pop over to Kathy’s Quilts where you can see what more sensible people make on Sunday. You can find the link here

Happy stitching everyone!

Sunday Stitching and Snitching

by Kay, posted in Uncategorized

Do you recognise this place?

Lacock Abbey cloister

Is this a better clue? Or the title of this post?

The Warming Room

We went to Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire today which was used as a location for some of the Harry Potter films. A beautiful place, formerly an abbey until it was dissolved by Henry the VIII and turned into a family home. In Victorian times it was the home of Fox Talbot who invented the first photographic negatives so the more than one copy of a photo could be produced

This was after completing a couple more fans for the Fanfare pattern. We also visited Newark Park yesterday and visited Dursley village (a name familiar to Potter fans!) where I found a charity bookshop with patchwork and quilting books – usually rare to find. I behaved myself and only bought two!

fan

I will be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching, pop over and see what everyone else is up to.

 

Grandmother’s Flower Garden

by Kay, posted in Quilt-a-Longs

These two flowers have travelled round a bit – in and out of a zip lock bag getting a bit wrinkled on the way but now they are finished

Two flowers

They are larger than the previously completed flowers; adding the diamonds gives more design possibilities the idea for which came from ‘Quilting on the Go!’ by Jessica Alexandrakis. This is a very good book for people new to EPP (English paper piecing) or if you have experience, full of good ideas and design projects big and small.

Pink with leaves

I particularly like the leaves. The stripy material is one that I had doubts about when I bought it; was the colour too acidic? But I love it as the leaves because they set the pink off so well

What are you up to this Sunday? Pop over to Kathy’s quilts if you need some inspiration  http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/ and see what everyone else is up to

 

 

 

 

Great Minds Think Alike

by Kay, posted in Quilting from Little things, WIPs

Well maybe great is a bit of an exaggeration. My other half asked to borrow a tape measure as I was sitting in my sewing room and as he went downstairs  I said “while you are down there can you measure the Ikea shelf unit”. He paused and replied “you are never going to believe this,,” But I guessed straightaway that he was going to measure it for his office.

It would fit in both office and sewing room, but he just wanted to get it out of the kitchen where it was in the way; I wanted it to sort out my out of control WIPs. They are being shunted around my desks as I cut and sew fabric for the RSC15 and the #fw1930sqal so as I had a particular use for them I got them!

So this is before and after

no shelf They were unpainted but as I wanted to use them straightaway I had to do something to cover up scuff marks where they had been in storage. A root around in my little plan chest turned up some scrap-booking paper.

I don’t actually do scrap-booking, I bought the paper because it was in a sale  and I thought it would make nice wrapping paper. I was a bit to enthusiastic with the craft glue and it went a bit wobbly – the paper not the shelf unit

shelfFortunately, as it dried, the paper flattened and now it looks much better.

The drawers are now filled (already) with WIPS or rather the small WIPs as there are others to big to fit in, but it’s a start to organise my tiny sewing room so I actually have enough room to sew

On the left; RSC15 and a partially finished purse
Two projects for Quilting From Little Things; Star and Fanfare
So tidy!

I even inspired me to sort out my Grandmother’s Flower Garden too. I am now thinking of getting another one as I like small projects on the go to take a out with me or when  I sit downstairs to watch TV. It’s all part of the Slow Sunday Stitching too.

Lenin, however, does not seem to be impressed

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Slow Stitching Sunday

by Kay, posted in Uncategorized

 

The Slow Stitching Movement has been steadily gaining ground recently and is a reaction against the tendency to rush the creative process; to produce something, anything, rather than enjoy the process itself. Formally launched by Mark Lipinski and modelled after the Slow Food Movement they believe that;

” … speed can kill creativity and the enjoyment of our creative pursuits.  Maybe what we really need to do is slow down, enjoy the process, and create fiber art that we’re really proud of.”

They are not the only advocates slow stitching, there are many others with a quiet passion for this way of working.  At the moment Kathy is hosting a link up for Slow Sunday Stitching which you can find  here. Why not grab her button like I did and join in.

My contribution at the moment is a grandmother’s flower garden. Started before I heard of The Slow Stitching Movement or Kathy’s’ blog, it is good to know that there is a growing appreciation, once again, for hand-stitched work. That doesn’t mean that machined quilts, chain piecing and easy blocks don’t have a place any more -they do, and I enjoy these too but in a different way.

The sewing machine ties us to the workbench, the noise inhibits conversation and drowns out music from the radio. Slow stitching is more sociable. I can sit and stitch with my other half while he relaxes watching a film,  or I can join a group to stitch in park, pub or home.

Slowness is the important part here, not that it is by hand as Lucie Dutton writes in her piece as a guest blogger for slowstitching.com. I recommend this as a cautionary tale about losing sight of what the movement means and what happens when you don’t slow down