Hand Stitching Progress

Posted on January 30, 2020 by prairiemoonquilts in Handstitching

Last year I committed to trying (and should have been committed for trying) 365 Days of Handstitching.

It wasn’t easy. I ended up doing hand stitching on 286 days of 2019. I missed 79 days.

But I finished 35 projects because of it!

I hand stitched the binding on the backs of 22 quilts,
finished my sister’s Fingerless mitts,
embroidered a Valentine stitchery project,
appliquéd on the Garden Path Sampler,
made 26 Vintage Christmas ornaments (with several more to go),
sewed the buttons back on one of My Cowboy’s chore shirts,
and made a little embellishment sampler in a hoop.

I also worked on countless other hand stitching projects that did not get finished, but did get moved further along, so I count it a raging success for myself! I even started a set of hand-pieced blocks for the Daredevils Quilt-Along: (this is Block 2; you can see Blocks 1 and 3 at the link)

I’m not doing that again this year. I mean, I’m not tracking my hand stitching this year, at least not for the entire year. But I will be doing lots of handwork again. I’ve already knitted 5 dishcloths, crocheted 2 washcloths, put the binding on a quilt, and made some progress on my Temperature Scarf, which I got really behind on about halfway through the year. My hope, however, is to have it mostly done, if not completely done, sometime in March. I don’t want to drag that project out for two years, when it should have only been a one-year project!

Did you do any hand stitching last year? What did you get done? Are you still planning more hand stitching for 2020? I sure am . . . I’ll try to do more frequent updates to show you what I’m working on throughout the year.

13 responses to “Hand Stitching Progress”

  1. Rose Marie Smith says:

    ohmigoodness. I want to resume the DareDevil blocks but they are so hard that I keep waffling. I need to be dropped off at a desert island with just that bin of fabrics and patterns and not allowed off the island until I make some headway learning how to handpiece such hard blocks. I have a geometrical blank spot in my brain. I liked geometry in highschool because it was not three dimensional. In real life much is influenced by the third dimension………my blank spot.

  2. Debbi says:

    WOW you did fantastic! I’ve been doing some hand piecing this month inspired by taking a class from Jen Kingwell at Road2ca. You’ve given me the idea to track my efforts….gosh I’ve GOT to get all this tracking stuff organized! It sounds great in my head, then I totally forget to do it.

  3. Angie in SoCal says:

    Congratulations on all your progress!

  4. KARREN PATTON says:

    I love your sense of humor! Probably because I take on projects for which I should be committed also. I did start and finish a small cross stitch piece last year. And I am old school so I always sew my bindings down by hand.

  5. Gina in Colorado says:

    Great blog. Got me thinking about some of my unfinished projects and what I could accomplish this year if I put greater effort into them. Last year I hand stitched several bindings, crocheted 2 washcloths, continued embroidering on my Crabapple Vintage Tin embroidery.

  6. Pam Desilets says:

    I finished a beautiful Christmas stocking all crossed stitched, 2 sweaters. Working on an Irish knit sweater now.

  7. Judy S. says:

    I’ve been working on a wool appliqué quilt for two years and there is only one block left, I think.
    Unless I decide to make it bigger. Need to get back to it.

  8. Shirley Guier says:

    I am totally impressed! I am working on getting a place upstairs to do all my prep work for applicate. I really don’t mind hand work, it’s just getting everything ready for it. All that tracing! Not sure why this bothers me. I’ll get over it one of these days. And I’m so impressed that you could actually keep track of it. I have a hard time keeping track of my blocks….which I’m sure you can tell. Maybe I’ll do better this year. I did keep my cutting table cleaner this year and didn’t get as many piles at last year.

  9. Christopher Thomas says:

    you are doing better at your hand work then I am.

    I do hand towels for gifts and such, I do have 20 sets stamped out from last year and I want to get them done this year, maybe when I start the year over at the first of Feb I can do a little each night. We will see how that goes

  10. Becky Cogan says:

    Every year I say I’m going to do more hand embroidery on a snowman quilt. Every winter I don’t commit to it like I want to. My sewing machine usually wins. I need help!

  11. Paula Mu says:

    Great idea. I may have to use a habit chart to track my hand stitching. You did great last year.

  12. I didn’t actually join this group last year, but I enjoyed watching your progress, especially your Vintage Christmas Ornaments. I did a lot of hand stitching on a number of projects. The current one is nearly finished, a large wool mat for the dining table. It’s all applique and embroidery. Bought the pattern many years ago and started it late last summer. I’ve enjoyed it so much, am working on the final section!

  13. Candice Chaleff says:

    I do A LOT of hand work and LOVE it! My biggest success has been my consistent work on my Hazel’s Diary quilt which I’m in the final stages of completing. I am considering making a clam shell quilt and embroidering on some/many of the individual shells.

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