I’m stitching away at a crib quilt. I always say, “I don’t have enough time to hand-quilt it; I’m just going to do it on the machine,” but 90% of the time I find myself stitching by hand anyway. Why do I do it? I guess there’s something therapeutic about placing each stitch, even if I’m doing big stitch quilting and not the 12 stitches per inch that gives you those masterpieces. There’s something nifty about seeing the stitches so this is what I do, even using contrasting thread to highlight them further.
I don’t have any big philosophical message here. Just thinking about how sometimes I choose to do things the slower, more laborious way and enjoy the process.
Third photo is of a few remaining leaves on the crepe myrtles in our backyard. I just noticed the similarity in color scheme with the quilt.
I’m about to go out and tidy up the back patio and yard. We’re expecting moderately severe weather tonight and I just saw that an airport in the San Antonio/Austin NWS area reported a wind gust of 77 mph. I think the umbrella needs to come down altogether, not just be closed. The scheduled front arrival time is supposed to be between 10 and 1, but I think it will definitely be closer to 1 or even later. The forward motion is pretty slow. If there’s a good light show I’d like to be awake for it – we’ll see. I can’t count on the thunder waking me up because I sleep pretty hard and with my hearing aids out…
[Update: that forward motion shot up! It’s like a door swinging around now. Who knows, I might be awake for it after all. If there’s hail I can measure and get pictures.]
I won’t be getting any good pictures tonight, so here’s a small selection of storm photos during the past several months:
Praying With My Feet 
Everything I read tonight reminds me of some aspect of #bloginstead! I’ve been thinking about it all day, one way or another, and it’s turned into a pair of glasses that I’m reading through, I think. 🙂 Your hand-stitching of course made me think of blogging! Hand sewing is to machine sewing what blogging is to Facebooking…perhaps I should go to sleep now!
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Yes, I think it’s a nice parallel! I was tired and needed to go out (in the rain, no less) so I figured everyone was bright enough without me spelling it out, lol.
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Just got back in myself – rest well!
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I love sewing by hand, and there is so much therapy there! And I knew you were in Texas but I didn’t know what part. I grew up in Austin and lived in San Antonio for many years. Remember when I said that my family all lived several states away? Well they are all in your area, lol! My eldest son(26) is in San Antonio living and working and the rest of my family is in the Austin area. Anyhow, sleep well.
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Wow! I’m north of Houston but my brother used to live in Austin and my friend, Elissa, is in Dripping Springs.
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I love that you do things the long way. I write my akathists long hand, and I’ve also started writing prose that way as well, with an old fashioned fountain pen, and there’s something really wonderful about the sound of the nib on the paper, and watching the words come up wet and shiny and then drying to a lovely blue. It’s . . . contemplative, and slower and more intimate, somehow.
Also, the photos are wonderful – that second one, the moody sky with the building is just so fraught! I love it.
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I so admire the skill to create such beauty from such simple materials! My wife crochets a variety of things, and as much as I watch her work with her fingers and crochet hook, I cannot begin to comprehend this art form . . . but I do appreciate it.
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