Quilting.

Fast or slow. By hand or machine. Embroidered or pieced. Upcycled fabric or new. Mended or not. What’s the right way?

My idea, in short, is this. Do what fosters your love of making.

Sometimes, I get into almost a production mode, making quilts as fast as I can. Other times, I stitch completely by hand. And that feels right at that time. Sometimes, I’m really mindful of every stitch and fabric chosen. Sometimes, I just want to let the needle fly. Sometimes I hand quilt with perle cotton and big stitches. Sometimes I load a quilt on my Gammill longarm machine, and use the computer to make beautiful designs.

And, I think that’s healthy for me. My making tends to be organic, I guess is the word, or theory. I try not to put restrictions on myself, unless it amuses me to do so or tests me in some productive way.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about today. You read about mindfulness, for instance. (I love this, by the way…I’ve been practicing more mindfulness and it has changed my daily routine.)

You decide your sewing isn’t “mindful” like someone famous on Instagram. You try really hard to make sure all your fabrics, tools, supplies are upcycled/recycled and sustainable, because that looks so good and whole, on Instagram. And there are beautiful people accomplishing that.

But then, one day, you feel this pull to go to the local quilt shop, catch up with your friend, the owner, and buy some beautiful new fabrics that just came in. There’s no shame in that. You do you.

I love and admire and continue to foster more sustainability in my own making, but it has to be organic for me, a result of practice, not placing restrictions on myself. Who do I want to be? A day from now, a month? I might handstitch only with recycled thread for 30 days or I might go nuts and finish every Block of the month traditional quilt that I have sitting in my sewing room.

And, rarely are my works a result of any deep thinking. You might have gathered that by now. Most of the time, I make to make. When my boys were little, sewing was partly essential, but also gave me something I could do that didn’t get undone immediately. I could make a simple hotpad, and use it for years in my kitchen.

I don’t know where this ramble is going, but I encourage us all...you do you. I don’t know...is that a hashtag? Who cares?

I have loved every bit of my slow and mindful sewing, as much as I have when I get in a jag and finish big quilts that serve no other purpose than the joy I get from making and piecing fabrics together, no matter where they came from.

The slow, mindful, mending, sustainable quilting practice, has impacted my life in a lovely way. I enjoy it. But, I found that when I first started doing it, I felt almost guilty or wrong, posting any of my other quilting on Instagram. The thought crossed my mind, how can I be slow and mindful, if I own a longarm quilting machine and can quilt a king size quilt in a day?

That’s a question for another day!

Now, let’s go sew!
Your friend,
Anne Dovel