Friday, September 2, 2016

The End of the Road... Road Trip 2016

Our 2016 Road Trip is over, and the summer with it! So here's one last look at the ride.We'll show you how we added our borders, and also how our Quilts of Valor are coming along. And if you make to the end, there's even a cute kitty picture!

In case you have been feeling tired lately, here's why! If we had actually driven this, it was 6,883 miles, or 109 hours and 6 minutes in the car. (I love MapQuest.) That side trip to Vegas was worth it, though, don't you think? 


But what we really did, was sew 212,750 stitches. If every stitch was a mile, we drove around the earth 8-1/2 times. ( I love math.) So that is definitely taking armchair travel to new lengths!

Now back to reality. Here's a quick photo tutorial if you'd like to add borders like ours. Just load the design provided on the Road Trip web page with 2 layers of heavy stabilizer in a 5" x 7" hoop. Pick two colors; one for the words and one for the stars. We used white, then blue. We made four of these in all for all four sides.


Unhoop and trim your pieces apart right on the stitched line between them. Cut them into 2-1/2" high strips. Then cut 1/2" away from the letters on each side. At this point, remove as much stabilizer as you can, and trim up any of the larger jump stitches between the letters.



Sew the saying together with 1/4" seam. 


Pick a corner accent fabric, (we used a navy blue with stars), cut two pieces 2-1/2" square, and sew one to each end of the piece; there's extra, so just trim it even with the sides of your main piece.


Do the same for the top border. Then the side borders are done the same way as well, except out of the corner fabric, you'll need a longer scrap, roughly 5" x 2-1/2," for the ends of the side pieces.
Voila! (I love saying, "Voila.")


If you are too tired at the end of this whole trip, just buy some nice red, white, and blue fabric, cut it to 2-1/2" strips and use that for a border. Or you could just make one saying for the bottom border and do the rest out of fabric. It's all about you. <3

We were SO tired after last year's trip, nothing ever happened with it! So this year, we plan to finish it. These big breaks in projects are something you may have noticed with your own work-- it's okay, it's just a bit of resting time before it becomes clear what the embroidery wants to be. Sort of like dough resting. There are no UFOs in our studio-- just resting dough.

Et Voila!



And look how impressive they look together! Makes us want to go ahead and digitize every city in the whole world, huh!


And finally, in between cities this Road Trip, we did get a few more star blocks finished for our Quilts of Valor-- that is what we will have when this project is fully baked. A little photoshoppin' here, folks, but honestly, we're pretty close to finishing one now that the centers are done.


And that makes it a wrap! We were going to post a picture of a sunset last to symbolize the end of the road for Summer 2016... but all we could really pull up was one of the office cat taking a sip of water from his teacup while the rest of us groveled on the floor with the above quilt blocks. 


If you enjoyed the road trip, please comment below with your first name, town, state, country... it's like carving our names in a tree when we all reached Seattle. Happy Fall! <3

29 comments:

  1. Loved this road trip, your borders are a great finishing touch.
    Reminded me of a family road trip back in 1968 on the old route 66.
    Thanks for the memories.
    South Windsor, CT

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  2. Carol, I really have enjoyed both road trips, and have every city stitched out. They are superbly digitized and your colour choices are fantastic.
    I plan to make an American city wall hanging, adding some extra cities I was fortunate to visit in 2013.
    Thank you for the generous gifts, from Barb living south of Melbourne. Victoria Australia.

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  3. I've enjoyed this trip tremendously and thank you for your generosity of each city. Can't wait to do the nest one!!

    Lois
    Pensacola FL, USA

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  4. Lovely things all ladies of accomplished. Enjoyed them so much as well as the Road Trip.

    Thank you for it all ! Nan

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  5. I loved your embroidery designs. They were so well done. I wish I had chosen better background fabric that coordinated a little, especially after seeing what you finished with. Thank you for some of the memories of where I have traveled to.
    One little bitty thing - Last year 2015 this year our label should be 2016, don't you think?

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    1. The new label is up on the bottom of the web page-- enjoy!
      http://www.sanfranciscostitchco.com/SecretLifeofThread.html

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  6. Thank you so very much for another wonderful road trip.
    It's always fun to travel with you "from sea to shining sea".

    Great designs, great instructions, great ideas.

    Again many thanks and
    Happy Fall to you all,

    Sigrid, Wasilla, Alaska

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  7. Thanks so very much for your generosity. Its sew much appreciated. So is the reminder of all the beautiful spots to see right here at home, in the USA. I enjoyed the entire trip and look forward to hand quilting our road trip in the forthcoming cold winter in Maine. I'm quite sure I won't come close to the miles traveled in the blocks, but it will be a journey of love just the same.

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  8. Thank you, Carol, for another amazingly digitized Road Trip. The detail in the designs is fantastic. I've finished 3 Egypt as pillows (3 friends and I traveled there)which make wonderful mementoes. And a London. Still have others to finish stitching. I appreciate your creativity for such fun projects and your generosity for sharing. Thank you again. Nancy New Lexington, OH

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  9. Thank you so much once again.. I enjoy each one of your mystery trips, even tho many places we haven't been to.. Thank you once again. Rae New Zealand

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  10. thank you for this great quilt, have visited many of the places and hope to visit many more of your wonderful country. Spent 8wks driving across country in 2015. Just sorry did not know about last years :( Dianne, Gawler, South Australia.

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  11. This was so great and love your quilt

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  12. Thanks for the ride, it was a great trip! Debbie Jewell, Atchison, Kansas

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  13. Being one who suffers horrendously from Fear of Flying, these are all places I will never get too from the safety of my little home in Australia. Really enjoy the vicarious tripping, though. Your final big Quilt of Valor looks wonderful (as do the mini quilt centres). Great job as always, Carol. Thank you for your generosity.

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  14. The road trip was fabulous! I can't wait to get it finished. I am going to use it as a table topper.

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  15. Love Love Love it! I have not made a quilt yet....ever. But I am ready to roll now.

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  16. I really enjoy and like your designs. I am thinking of putting my two road trips in one small quilt, Working on it now

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  17. I really enjoy and like your designs. I am thinking of putting my two road trips in one small quilt, Working on it now

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    1. Oh great minds think alike Jean! I hadn't seen your comment til now and just posted the same sort of possibility later this year for myself! Combining all the designs in one would be a fun project for a wall hanging in my sewing studio. Have fun creating yours! Laura in VA

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  18. This was a fantastic road trip! Thanks for the ride.
    Linda, Willow Street, PA, USA

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  19. Wonderful! I really enjoy your road trips and your mystery designs. I may not have traveled to these places for real, but I can pretend that I have been there. Thanks! {back seat driver}

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  20. Wonderful! I really enjoy your road trips and your mystery designs. I may not have traveled to these places for real, but I can pretend that I have been there. Thanks! {back seat driver}

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  21. It was a great summer on a Road Trip with your wonderful designs! Thank you so much for the ride! When I read in your blog how it makes you want to digitize every city in the whole world, that makes me want to stitch out all the cities we've done again, into one project!! Hmmm....winters are long enough here...something for me to consider! Love San Francisco Stitch Company! Laura in VA

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  22. Thank you for the road trip. It's the only vacation I get!
    Brenda. Aurora, Missouri USA

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  23. Thank you for your wonderful Road Trips! I luv road trips for real, too :) Cheryl, Overland Park, Kansas USA

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  24. Fantastic! Luv your designs. Use your mugrugs as gifts to friends all the time....

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  25. Liking the idea of putting all my road trips into one Quilt of Honor for a disabled shipmate. Thanks for all that you do.

    Gina
    San Francisco, CA
    Sun City West, AZ

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  26. Liking the idea of putting all my road trips into one Quilt of Honor for a disabled shipmate. Thanks for all that you do.

    Gina
    San Francisco, CA
    Sun City West, AZ

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