Monthly Archives: November 2022

Don’t Stress Out… Quilt!

I’m just about out of thread

As we are heading into the busy holiday season, now is the time we often feel a lot of stress. Between trying to finish end of the year projects at work to all the festive seasonal preparations, it can be an overwhelming time.  It hardly seems like the time to break out a quilt project. But did you know that quilting actually has numerous physical and mental health benefits? Here are few of the nice things that quilting can do for you:

  • Generates a sense of accomplishment – Sure your company didn’t meet its “stretch goals” for the year, but you finished little Suzie’s quilt. Win!
  • A natural anti-depressant – Crafting activities such as quilting, knitting and other handiwork cause your brain to release the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, the so-called “happy chemicals”.
  • Keeps your brain active and engaged … and thereby postpones cognitive aging and dementia. The more complicated the task the better, so bring on those double wedding ring quilts!
  • Reduces stress – What could be more relaxing than looking at colorful fabrics and shaping them into something both useful and beautiful? Reducing stress lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke. So, quilting might just save your life someday!

The Worst Day Quilting

Quilting is better than working any day

The worst day quilting is still better than the best day working, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a pretty bad day quilting! We asked our readers “What was your worst day quilting ever?” and got some pretty “bad” responses. Here are some of the worst:

  • Sewing in a block upside down and not noticing it until after it was quilted.
  • Miscalculating the yardage needed and running out of an irreplaceable vintage fabric.
  • Spilling a glass of red wine on a baby quilt top the night before the shower.
  • Finding out your husband used your good quilting scissors to cut wire… as evident by all the mysterious notches in your cuts.
  • Sewing an applique block to your pant leg.
  • Deciding to pre-wash your fabrics and finding out that one of them wasn’t color fast.
  • Discovering the hard way that the cat got accidentally shut in the closet and then relieved himself on an unfinished, folded quilt top.
  • Investing untold hours into a Dresden Plate baby quilt with scalloped edges for a family member only to be told by the recipient “This is lovely, but I already got a quilt for the baby… at Target”.

Your well-meaning husband mistook a bag of quilt tops waiting for the long armer for a clothing bag destined for the donation bin.

  • And, finally, the winner of the Worst day Quilting was hands down (no pun intended): Cutting the tip of your finger off with a rotary cutter. Don’t worry, this fearless quilter went straight to the ER and her steadfast dedication to quilting was unharmed.