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Lately I’ve been indulging in some slow stitching. Hand applique, specifically. I have projects sitting on a table in the living room and every once during the day I pick it up and stitch for a few minutes. The moments make nice breaks from work and holiday prep, and I love the few moments of relaxation. And I enjoy the satisfaction of watching the applique forms emerge.

Here’s a photo of an appliqued piece I just finished using quilting fabrics. It’s appliqued with the Hebrew name “Noach” or “Noah”.

Most of my applique projects are by machine, so when I start a hand applique project I always pull out Jane Townswick’s Artful Applique: The Easy Way. The book is project based, but Jane explains techniques so well that I use the book as a general guide to hand applique. I can definitely recommend it. Jane’s section on tools is solid, too. Her recommendation to add a toothpick to your hand applique tool kit was a revelation.

And I’m glad for the time I took to develop a set of Hebrew letter patterns to work especially well for applique, with minimal number of sharp corners and deep curves. I spent more than a year designing the letters, but I feel like I’m reaping the rewards now with letter forms that are simple and relaxing to stitch. 

And here’s where make a plug for the Alephbet Letter Pattern set, which is available as a PDF in the Sew Jewish Etsy shop: Hebrew Alephbet Letter Patterns set. 

Speaking of relaxation, I thought I’d share this YouTube video, which is one of my go-to videos for music to play in the background while I’m working and moving about from here to there getting things done. I thought you might enjoy it as well. The title says it’s for writing, but it’s great for stitching, too. Here’s to capturing moments of calm creativity this season: