Happy Thanksgiving!

     As we go into the holidays and prepare to close out the year,
the first thing that always comes to my mind is THANKS!

    Thank you to all 

who have kept my little business afloat this year...

  

  Thank you for loving these dear little stitchy things...

and best of all, for sharing your own creations--
that is honestly the greatest part of doing this!

Here's a few little peeks at our Thanksgiving celebration this year--
it may not be much, but it is heartfelt. You're invited and we're so happy you can all be a part of it with a little internet magic!

So here is my brand, new, HUGE! Thanksgiving tablecloth that I bought in a moment of optimism a couple of weeks ago. It was "wicked" expensive as they say in these parts, and if anyone spills cranberry sauce on it, it will take every ounce of graciousness I possess to NOT immediately pull the tablecloth trick and run upstairs to soak it! Fine displays of linen are important to me, in fact, the tablecloth means more to me than buying a new dress-- I know you, as embroiderers, will agree with me there.

I set the whole table up, because, of course, I want to use it this year, and just so I could get some photos. As of this writing, it may just be Mr. SFO and I sitting at the ends of this table staring at each other from fifteen feet away with not much to say. 

I am lucky to have a complete set of 12 of these Myotte Thanksgiving plates-- they are not fine china, but I love the illustration and I really enjoy using them each year. And that is my grandma's fine silverware-- it is looking a bit worn, but my daughter assures me that it is "quaint." I once looked into getting them re-plated-- but it was hard to find a place and again, "wicked" expensive. Does anyone have an experience with this?

I have quite a few of my favorite samples saved for decorating-- but I do give away a lot of what is made here-- for instance-- I LOVE this thing, but I honestly don't even know where it is at this point! I am tempted to make a new one.

This tablerunner I kept because it is not quilted--

unfinished never stops me from displaying something!

Here is some more of my decorating-- I also have this table linen from France-- so exquisite! Every time we eat at the table, I fold it up into the middle so no spills... My family is very patient with this beyond just a few rolled eyeballs, and this makes me realize I should probably be more grateful for them, too.

Now-- it's on to the cooking! My DNA is sorely lacking in this area-- but I can make anything LOOK GOOD. So beware...

Here is my pumpkin cheesecake-- while trying to make it last year, I smoked up the entire house! This year, it worked out better-- apparently, I am at least capable of LEARNING. I went outside and picked a real leaf as a stencil for the powdered sugar. So again, looks great-- but just take a tiny piece if offered-- LOL.

Today's a busy day for me, but I do have planned weekend sales, twelve days of Christmas sales starting on December 1st, and of course, a free stitch-a-long. This still needs fleshing out, but "escapism" is definitely what we need this year, So I'm thinking of a fairy tale theme-- the medieval villagers, the king and queen, and all of the forest creatures bedecked for a jolly time.

"Once Upon a Time, CHRISTMAS"

The December Cottage of the Month will be on time-- the sentiment is JOY-- I also hope to get the finishing kit out shortly. Stitches of the Sea is in danger of falling behind-- I have lost myself on the eighth arm of an octopus. So I can see this dragging into next year, but not too badly. The FREE stitch-a-long is really more important this year-- don't you agree?

So, again, here is my wish to you for a most Happy Thanksgiving! Even if you are by yourself, lather the white meat, stuffing, and mashed potatoes with gravy and enjoy the parade on TV. And don't skip the ice cream on the pumpkin pie. Happy days will be here again.

xox

Carol

Wake up and stitch the roses!

I have retired the snowman cross stitch for a bit-- I only have two more to do, and I think I will enjoy finishing it up in January when there might even be the possibility of going outside to make a real one!

Last year at this time, I was working on my "Forever Project"-- the applique quilt I started in 1998 which I didn't really ever expect to finish. It is call "Baltimore Out of the Box" and was sold by Keepsake Quilting as a Block of the Month so many years ago... do you remember it?  It was designed by Dinah Jefferies for her company Garden City Gateworks and came before the age of the internet, so if you Google it, I think my blog is one of the only things that comes up.

Well, it actually looks like I might finish it in a couple of years! I am on the borders-- I finished one last year, and over Halloween I prepped and glued the next one... that's about 60" of border. I really look forward to getting up in the morning and stitching on a leaf or two with my tea-- sometimes that's the only thing that gets me up!

The flowers and buds are all 3D-ish. I use Appliquik materials and prep the whole thing before I sit down to stitch. And a little teeny, tiny needle-- it took me a long time to figure out that's what you need for teeny, tiny stitches-- not that long needle they tell you will swoop the seam allowance under!

So after about 3 weeks, I have one side of the border all stitched down and I'm starting on the middle burst of flowers. I've gotten quicker at it--(not necessarily better, lol) and I may even get the third border done over the winter.

On the piecing side of things, the bats are still baffling me!

I think I may be retire this for awhile.

With all the new project starts this fall, it's been a bit like Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory. I've been trying to keep things positive, though-- I have made tremendous progress on finishing this year.

If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram, you see that we only have ONE cottage of the month left to go-- and the finishing kit is designed, with instructions coming along.

This is a photoshopped image of what the final piece will look like.

So you see we need quite a few sashing pieces--thirty one!

I wanted to give you a variety-- so while I want them to be subtle and not distract from the blocks, we can get some movement through the quilt. This is what I have for you:

Maple Leaves

Oak Leaves

Vertical Birds

and Horizontal birds.

All of them come with right and left facing versions, so you can mix and match whatever speaks to your heart, and we'll also be explaining how to customize to your own colors-- your quilts should always be about YOU!

Here's a first sample block with setting---

But Lucy and Ethel have to put that down for a bit-- 

it's going to be Thanksgiving!

I've been warming up my oven for it--

Also, in a moment of optimism, I bought a HUGE new formal tablecloth for my dining room. My table is the kind that you can add leaves to, according to the number of seats, and extend it out to about 120" long. So yes, we will be limiting gatherings this year, but our friends and family will hopefully be as large as ever in 2021.

I am really living for that.

xox

Carol

Still here!

Does anyone else feel like they are watching a bad Twilight Zone episode this year? One with too many farfetched subplots, characters you don't care about, and not enough time for everything to be woven into a neat, satisfying ending in six weeks when 2020 is over? Why, oh why, did we start watching this show?-- and now we can't turn it off! That's me! 

 I mention this, only so you don't think I'm a mindless moron, sewing away unmoved by the suffering going on all around. But enough of you have written to me privately saying that you enjoy reading about my little world-- so I'll keep blazing this path... a little five-minute commercial break from the "2020 Show"... go grab a snack! 

We did have some days in the 70s this week-- it was lovely. But late autumn is now here. We even had a little snow-- so pretty. 

This is the last picture of my eye-popping, 3 ft. tall coleus plants-- the envy of the neighborhood. It's hard to see in this picture, but the "comical stalk" from my new rose bush is still there. (Look slightly to the left of the clump of three birch trees at the top of the photo.) I hauled the plants out last weekend, but I'll take one last picture of the stalk before I cut it down. I've probably now ruined any chance that rose bush has of growing normally-- but it was fun to watch.

For the past month, projects have been started here at a rate never before seen. If I was on the psychiatrist's coach, I'm sure we'd be exploring the reasons for this, but since I do this, I don't need the couch!

This is a Basic Grey pattern (I love them) "Flight Night" I started before Halloween-- it's a really cool. Too cool for my brain-- you would have laughed if you saw me trying to piece the bats together correctly, as shown above! After about three blocks, I finally got the hang of it-- then you had to make a WHITE bat on a BLACK background!! It's a good thing God granted me more than my fair share of sense of humor. I probably would have been cracking jokes and cackling on the deck of the Titanic. 

Then that got put away, and I started a "Double-wide Dresden" pattern-- I spied this on Instagram (someone needs to get this app off my phone) and realized I had the plastic template from a Sew Sampler box a couple of years ago. 

Another really beautiful pattern-- you sew together an entire charm pack and then cut it like swiss cheese-- oddly satisfying in a time of depression. I used "Rosewood" from 3 Sisters. I have a super pretty taupe grunge that I think will look amazing as the background, only we may never find out, because I put that away and then caught up my A Very Coriander Christmas BOM.

This is Month 3-- the most I have been able to keep up with a block-of-the-month is Month 6, so we'll see what happens! All these starts are so much fun for me and make me so happy-- but I have to confess it does make me sad to think I am leaving a bunch of unfinished work when I go, instead of my leaving my entire family warm and happy, blanketed with love. So I'm trying to come up with a 2021 strategy of finishing-- like maybe, I will just pick one thing each month and keep working on it? A lot of what I have is really, really far progressed so it might not take that much to get a number of them done next year. Do you have any strategies on how to drag things across the finish line?

In between all of that, I have a business to run-- so permit me a moment of pride when I say that the November Cottage of the month was added to my collection!

I have also been working hard on a sashing and cornerstone design-- we're almost there.

I'm really happy with the design of this-- I just think the colors need to be very much muted to keep the attention on the blocks. I love the big maple leaf, but I 'm trying to do some others with birds for variety.

This is what I'm supposed to be working on right now--LOL.

So with that, I'll say goodbye for now-- I promise we'll tell more about all of these wonderful projects as they progress, inch by inch. And I hope you can find a little happiness in needle and thread today-- there is always such happiness in little things-- even when big things disappoint us.

xox

Carol

Halloween Stitchcraft...

I spent last evening watching the gorgeous
Blue Moon rise over my sewing room! 

Practicing my voodoo...

Hacking quilts to bits...

Making bats for my belfry...

...and digging up some old friends.

It's all part of this week's plan...

FREE DESIGN DOWNLOAD PAGE

Won't you join me?

xox

Carol