6/30/16

The focus of quilting

Life is crazy right now.  Work, home, being a parent, being a child, being a spouse.  Each on their own, easy enough.  All at one time...well, a bit of a burden, otherwise known as...

adulthood.

I don't know what people that don't quilt do for the stress.  For me, the best medicine is to quilt.  Specifically, the quilting phase.  Not piecing, which carries the stress of making good color choice and executing the piecing well.  I mean the actual quilting.  When I'm quilting...or even knitting...it's all physical work, little mental work.  The design is chosen, the piecing is done, the decisions are made.  It's me and my hands.  And my ability to focus just on what I'm doing right then.

That's what helps me relax and slows my breathing and changes my focus from all the little things that happen in a day. 

So, I quilt; hand or machine.  And, I knit.  And, I do my very dead level best to relax. 

Because it's easier than screaming!

I thought I'd show a few pics of the tissue paper marking.  I tried to take this picture so that the needle punching would cast a shadow and show up. 


I quilt along those needle punched lines.


And, then I tear away the paper. 


With a process that easy, you can see how the stress just melts away.  At least for a little while.

Everybody have a great Thursday! 

Lane

5 comments:

talkingcat said...

Great to see how you actually do it. I have often wondered at the specifics. Thanks.

lw said...

Are you using just pins to hold the tissue, or is there some adhesive?

I'd love to get to where quilting was stress relief, for me it's the design and piecing.

Lane said...

Just straight pins. I used 8 to hold this 9.5" piece of tissue. One in each corner to anchor the little loop within my shape and one on each side, outside the pattern. If I'm pinning a bigger piece, I use basting safety pins so I don't stick myself. Lane

Kath said...

I am attempting to FMQ round every bit of my applique blocks. I am finding that stressful. I retreat to my conservatory for some hand sewing, which calms me. Maybe I should stick to hand quilting, there's not so much can go wrong :-D

The Joyful Quilter said...

Mindless piecing is my zen. The actual quilting, not so much. Glad that it works to relax you... because with wearing so many hats, you need a bit of peace.