Jeweled Macnas Quilt Complete

 

The Jeweled Macnas Quilt is complete and I took it out for some beauty shots. 

There was a new stone wall in my neighborhood so I used it as a prop. I know I'll be photographing more quilts here.

I liked the sun peeking through the leaves for this photo. I've written the story of the quilt, and will gift it soon.

When I wrote about not hand sewing bindings on my quilts, I didn't mean to indicate I was doing it because I couldn't sew invisibly. I am going to stop because it HURTS when I do it, so the answer is definitely NOT to do my hand sewing on the back. I'm inclined to agree with Wanda. If the quilt is Very Special, I may hand sew the binding, but otherwise I'll sew it on by machine. Most people never notice anyway.

Binding the Jeweled Macnas Quilt

 

After I finished the Jeweled Macnas flimsy, I chose this teal fabric for the binding. But when I got it home I noticed something else I thought would look better,

So which one did I choose?

Yeah, that was pretty obvious.

So I made the binding, attached it to the quilt, folded it over and pinned it all around.

I sat down and started hand sewing the binding down while watching the Ladie's Final of the USTA Tennis yesterday.

Twenty minutes and forty inches later I had an epiphany.

My hand sewing binding days may be numbered. Why?

My thumb hurt. It was so bad I had to go into the kitchen and massage it with ice. I stopped drawing in pencil when that became a regular thing.

It isn't just my thumb. The muscles in my shoulder and upper back also get sore.

I've known this has been coming. Over the last couple of years I have noticed my "blind stitching" is not always so invisible, and my corners aren't as always as perfect as I'd like them to be. 

It's no surprise. I'm 72 years old and I have arthritis in my hands, shoulder and spine. I've been lucky I'm able to do what I can, but moving forward allowances will have to be made. 

I'm good with that, and I am well aware there is no shame in it.