A Waste of Time...

 It is the high holiday season at SFOXCO! First, Father's Day, then a rapid succession of three birthdays in two weeks. (Mine is not one of them-- remember, I always have to be different!)

It is nice to have a really full table again... my son brought over enough seafood to turn a Great White Shark black. We judge a good party by this yard stick-- did we use every dish in the house? Since I had to rinse out some forks for the cake, I'd say it was a HUGE success.

This is the only picture I took unfortunately-- I was too busy eating and laughing. It's already Wednesday and I'm still exhausted.

On the sewing side, the guilty pleasure continues...

"Apple Lady" is almost all finished besides a few stitches in the hat (and then miles of backstitch!) I saved that hat for last-- it is no exaggeration to say every stitch in it is a different color!

You would not believe how many hours of work this entailed... if you look at the full pattern, if this took a month, you can see it would probably take a full year of earnest work to complete it. 

One of the things that surprises me about stitching this is just how guilty I do feel about it. Why? I've really tried to analyze it... is it a WASTE of TIME? That's a cardinal sin in this household! And so I sneak it out every morning for an hour when no one is looking. I suspect I will keep going-- after Apple Lady, I can branch out in any direction, and certain parts look easier and faster to do (ha). I'm always a fan of typography, so "AUTUMN" is really looking attractive to me to work on next. I did promise myself to complete the third border of my Baltimore Album quilt "Forever Project" this year and the switchover is going to happen on July 1st. What happened to my Christmas House of Hangover? It is sitting neglected on a shelf under my coffee table. I still think I could have it by Christmas, though.

My table runner of the month plan in January has been a smashing success- I do have more than six done so far this year-- I may do a recap on the blog here in early July. So I've turned my attention back to my beautiful longarm to try to quilt some of them. The longarm was my present to myself after getting the artist-in-residence through college and since Mr. SFO does not like to travel, it's a bit of a down payment on my retirement.

I loaded January's table runner of the month and I have been dabbling at it here and there.

I sketched up a pretty plan for some quilted wreaths since the blocks look "circularish" to me.

So, on the front, this looks great to me, but the back shows every imperfection. I took this photo Michelangelo fashion on my back under the longarm. (What is that blob of thread and why is there a string hanging down?) I know you're supposed to use a blending thread and a busy background fabric, but red grunge and white thread is what I had. I've been trying to work from my stash lately.

Permit me a moment of pride-- as a kid, I was always good at everything I tried to do. Not so much anymore--it had been kind of frustrating, and I'm not sure if this talent is going anywhere. Fortunately, this activity has not reached the guilty, waste of time, point in my head and it will continue to its logical conclusion, whatever that is. (Not having clear goals is another sin around here). I imagined myself making show quilts, but this past year, I learned that keeping people warm and covered at night is a more satisfying goal in the end, than a ribbon.

My stitching in the ditch has made some progress-- remind me to never press a seam open again, though! You know if you stitch in those open seams with that big needle, it will probably destroy the stitching that holds those pieces together and it might pop open up over time. So what to do? I try to just stitch to one side, but it is practically impossible to keep it from slipping right in to that seam at certain points.

I watched one of Kimberly Jolly's two-and-a-half hour show one Friday, and she pressed EVERY seam open... this works if you are going to do an allover quilting pattern. But I fancy myself doing these gorgeous custom quilting jobs you see on Instagram, so on I go.

For business sewing this week, I almost have Set FIVE of Carefree Highways ready!

The theme is "Land O Lakes"...
we're touring the Great Lakes this time.

These are so fun to digitize, and I bet I could pass a test on State capitals right now if I had to... 

not a waste of time at all!

There seem to be a lot of robins, cardinals, and lighthouses in this part of the country.

Now halfway through this series, I've discovered the commission formed to select the birds for each state was not comprised of people who like to be "different," apparently. Seven are cardinals? I do salute Minnesota for the Loon though-- great job on that pick!

Indiana is next--yup, another cardinal. I so wish my DNA would allow me to just cut and paste a cardinal from another state, but I would just not do that and I'm betting a couple of you would notice!

So that is the story for another summer week that has rolled by. I hope you are all enjoying yourself-- you know, wasting time, not having clear goals, and low productivity. In the scheme of things, I think that is what summer is for.

xox

Carol