I belong to the Crazy Quilters Guild in Emmaus, PA. Next week the guild has a drive for baby quilts to send to Puerto Rico. I finished this baby quilt years ago. It was the last piece I hand quilted.
My friend Linda commented at the time that she was watching my quilting demise. Each piece I made had larger and less even stitches. My workmanship was so bad that after this quilt was complete, I stopped hand quilting all together.
Like many quilters, I had to have surgery on my right hand and will eventually have the left hand done too. It's funny because when I looked at this quilt, it all came back to me. I could barely grasp my needle when I did this.
But I also remember the fun part of handquilting. My granddaughter would stay here while her parents worked and I would quilt while she napped. It was relaxing and soothing and I do miss the act of actually rocking my needle.
I hadn't even bothered to bind the quilts. They ended up being completed when my husband was in a coma and I need something to keep do to keep sane while I sat in the hospital. Husband is fine now; binding is mediocre (at best) but it is a finished piece. I've had a few these quilts stored away and if I hadn't recently reorganized, I probably wouldn't have remember them at all.
My friend Beth says that there just comes a time when one knows it is time to save the hands. She has given up a lot of handwork she has done too. We'd rather be able to continue sewing what we love.
For me, I'd rather be able to embroider and have things machine quilted.
Today we are recovering from a Nor'easter here in Pennsylvania and the wind continues to blow. I hope you are safe and having a restful Sunday!
Great post. So understand the "keeping sane" part. Tried to keep sane with no power the last few days hand quilting on a new project. With 4 candles and a kerosene lamp at my shoulder I had to give up at 6:30pm when it was dark...to say nothing of the numb fingers. The early quilts impress me even more now. So glad to hear hubbie is fine.
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