When I went to the Wild Child's home for Thanksgiving, I brought with me the Harrington and Hannah block that I'd prepared a few weeks prior--I knew it was something I could stitch easily while sitting and visiting. But what I didn't think about was that we'd be spending time with people who weren't used to the idea of hand work. Manager Man's mom was very interested in learning about quilting and whatever else I was working on. She told us she'd never really had any hobbies and was thinking she'd like to find something that interested her. She loves pillows and thought maybe she'd like to create pillows. She was familiar with the blanket stitch I was using for the block but she didn't know about the applique process, so I spent a little time explaining to her what I was doing, although we didn't get very far before it was time to help with the dinner. After that, I never did get back to working on the block that afternoon.
Later in the evening, back in our hotel room, I took the block out again and worked on it for a little bit while watching TV, but before long, the day caught up with me and it was time to go to bed.
On the drive home from Eureka, I tried to work on the block again, but it seemed with all the bumps and curves in the road, I was sticking my own fingers with the needle more often than I was sticking the fabric, so soon Harrington and Hannah were put back in my project box.
I finally got back to working on that block tonight and finished it. This is the October block--so I'm a month behind again. Where has fall gone?
And with Christmas in sight, catching up with all of these projects isn't going to get any easier!
If you work on hand stitching, do you take your projects traveling with you or do you leave them at home? Most of the time, if I'm going to be gone long enough, I'll take projects with me, but more often than not, I don't seem to be able to get anything done on them unless I'm spending time with other stitchers. Maybe that's why stitching in a social setting used to work for women back in the day.
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5 comments:
You're right - folks aren't used to people doing handwork and it always raises questions - and sometimes you can tell that they kind of think you're just a little bit crazy to be doing it! And you're also right that it would be easier to get things done away from home if more people were doing handwork sitting in a doctor's office (or wherever).
I love your stitching, btw.
I often take my cross stitch with me...I love had stitching. Dianntha
I never travel without a project along. With that said, I have the same issue in the car (blood doesn't' look good on a project) and there is a certain part of the road where the light through the trees makes a strobe light affect on my stitchery and makes me crazy. I only take it into a place if there are other stitchers...or if HH and I are staying in a hotel because I get up early and stitch a little...your block is adorable!a
I often take hand stitching to meetings where I just have to listen and not participate in the conversation. People are usually interested in what I'm working on. I can't work in the car anymore-- my eyes just don't work we'll there! Cute block!
I admire your appliqué work. I need to hone my skills with appliqué. I am an avid fan for portable handwork. I had a hefty kits of scrap 2.5" squares with me over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I managed to make a LOT of blocks ad plan on turning them into Christmas gifts. Check out my recent posts on my blog: jaynesquiltingroom.blogspot.com. In fact, for my next post, I will probably include a link to you!
;-)
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