The Stitches

I have had so many people compliment my quilting recently.  I say “thank you, thank you.” Working by hand is very satisfying to me.  It goes so much slower by hand than by machine but there you go.  Sometime if I get way too many tops piled up I might resort to having some machine quilted but not unless I have to.  It is possible sometime down the road I might try to machine quilt a baby quilt just to see if I can do it, but I might not   I do not stress over perfect tiny stitches.  A lot of hand quilters want to have about 10 or 11 stitches per inch or more!!  I have heard of some that do 14 stitches an inch how they do that I do not know – nor do I care to learn how to do that!!  I do not even try for that.  Normally I get about 7 to 8 stitches per inch I try to have them all the same size but they aren’t always the same, if it is really obvious I will pick the stitches back out and re do, but only if really noticeable.  If I try really hard and pay attention to every stitch I take I can get 10  — BUT — it takes too much energy on my part!! I have to watch what I am doing constantly to achieve that and I decided sometime back that I just didn’t care that much.  I have over the years become satisfied with what my stitches look like and from the experience it comes easily now.

The stitches up close and personal

More of the same block. Quilting with the smaller hoop to me is more comfortable than the large floor standing frame -- but quilting a big quilt is easier to do on the big floor standing frame. For one thing it gets too darn hot with a big quilt for most of the year. I think that is why I can finished the baby quilts and couch size quilts much faster using the hoop than I do when I have a big quilt on the big frame. It is harder to maneuver on the big frame because you can't turn it this way and that way - you have to twist up your arms and hands sometimes if you are going around curves.

I have been asked do I do a “rocking stitch” – yes I do that is the way I taught myself to do it.  Some people do a stabbing stitch but I never have done that – I find the rocking stitch easy to do if you have the quilt loose in the hoop or frame and not too tight – you will get that rocking needle easier that way.

I ordered 10 Scarlet Maple trees awhile back and after a bit of problems receiving them and numerous e mails exchanged I finally got them this week. They are small trees and therefore they were very cheap!  Trees grow so fast here and I already have tons of trees so did not matter how quickly they grow.  I thought these would look so lovely in the fall that is why I ordered them.  Now of course digging through this tough rocky soil is another matter!!  I have 3 of them planted so 7 left to do.  I could ask Mike to help but he is working on other things – I am not helpless – just not so much in the muscle department my goal is to try to plant one or two a day until I get done – give me a week LOL.  Now if they were very big trees Mike would be out there with a back hoe digging the holes!! Seeing as these trees are only 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet with very little in the way of roots I can do it.  It makes me use some muscle that I’m not use to using.  I am scattering them about the property.  So far I have put 2 of them a ways in back of the house on the edge of the woods and one over by the back of the workshop.  I am not sure where the rest are going – here and there most likely on the far side of our property.

One of the 10 tiny trees.

what they look like when grown.