Death, taxes, and sewing

      If you are the lucky one in your family who knows how to wrap gifts nicely, I'm sure you've been popular at Christmastime. If you are the lucky one in the family who likes math-- (me)-- this is the time of year you are in demand--do you know why?

    Yup, it's tax time! I have no less than four people's Form 1040 on my plate, so I am taking a bit of a break from San Francisco Stitch this week and switching hats to Carol's TurboTax Service. To cheer myself along, I will allow myself a few minutes of "break" sewing as I roll along. So to Death and Taxes, I will add Sewing as one of the certainties of life!

   Lots of things coming along or not since my last post less than a week ago. Let's start with the steps forward...

   The Barn Star Sampler block finally got fully assembled. A little rough on the pressing, but my points survived. After initially feeling "meh" about it and thanks to some kind comments on Facebook, I am really liking my results. The finished star looks very like my sketch of so many weeks ago!

    One thing's for certain-- I better stop opining and start sewing because I am getting seriously behind on this stitch-a-long. I may take a Saturday and just work on the second Block 1. It has occurred to me that a few projects could use some seriously dedicated time soon instead of all this dibble dabbling I do. The "dark star" below is next. Then I may skip ahead to some smaller blocks from later on in the stitch-a-long-- Months 2 and 3 are also KILLER twenty-four inchers (two of each, no less) that I could come back to over the summer.

         I guess this mindless cross stitch is the perfect follow-up to itemizing home office expenses-- I got the entire pink part of the envelope filled in, with just a little border to go on the bottom. It's destined to become a pillow. 

    The mindless stitch came at the serious expense of Lori Holt's Prairie Meadow quilt-- the thing is in dire danger of become a long-term UFO. I wasn't too pleased when I photographed my set of six and saw how crinkly they looked. No progress this week. I think I need to make a commitment to get my next block prepped this week.

     Then March Sew Sampler box came in this week. FQS needs to think about skipping a month just to name these better-- it should be called the April box. Just because they ship the last week of the month, you are constantly feeling behind.

     I was none too pleased to get another jelly roll-- the despised pre-cut that maximizes zig zag edges. Plus, the pattern is a "woven" look-- and I'm just finishing up my Cupid Box which is very woven looking-- enough!

    Then I had the great idea to make the free FQS "Brick House" quilt from the fabric-- it's Simply Delightful by Sherri and Chelsi. I did my math, and figured out we can get nine 12" houses from the junior jelly roll, and I think the colors will look great, too! So this month, I already bought extra white background for my plan. I'm trying not to start before I finish the February box-- those were the "rules," but in my world, they were made to be broken. I may start cutting between Federal and State income taxes later this week. Isn't it a great pattern? 

     If you click below the photo, you will go to it-- the middle size will work for a jelly roll-- with some creativity. If I could do a block every couple of days, I could definitely complete it end of April, and send it on out.

Fat Quarter Shop's FREE Brick House Pattern

    So about February's box... after killing it by stitching it up in the first week I had it, I got lulled into the idea that it was "finished." So I quickly retrieved it, found batting and backing from my stash, and starting quilting it. 

    I am trying to stick to straight lines, but it started getting a little fancy, and a little tight at half inch spacing. My posture while doing it is textbook BAD-- scrunched shoulders, extended neck, etc. etc. and I have to limit myself to an hour at a time. 

     Conclusion: if I am going to keep up with the boxes, I'm going to have to enlist some long arm help! Especially if I make the brick house, I just do not want to be quilting these large things on my domestic. I'm trying for a just a 1/2 hr. a day on this, just so it does get completed-- you know, dibble dabblin' it along!

    So I am feeling a little like Ethel and Lucy working in the chocolate factory with these Sew Sampler boxes coming in. 

     

     At the same time, my Cupid Box is serious LOVE!

     I've never done a partial seams quilt before, but I did understand how to do it. I sat myself down with some graph paper, and just moving little cut pieces around on paper, I figured out a super organized way to "step" piece it together. You can see the blue gingham strips on the bottom are not sewn all the way if you don't know what I'm talking about. You complete them each time you add a new "step."

   I may even devote a large chunk of time this afternoon to just zip it up. I need to figure out when my daughter-in-law's birthday is-- it's for her.  This is my own pattern-- not the one included in the box. I may even write it up.

     Speaking of gifts, I did send out my Happy Mail quilt to a longarmer at the end of January and it's finally back! I will definitely have a nice finish this month for my FFO tab, and baby Zela will have a blankie with her name on it. <3 Just a little binding remains to get stitched down.

     I gave myself the day off yesterday, so the SPRING Bowl Fillers are a little late, but they are up this morning. I think I'm going to start Christmas designs as the summer season is always slow... Bowl Fillers designs are at the top of Santa's list this year.

     MY DAY OFF--- Who knew, but the last Sunday in Maine is MAPLE SUNDAY! We visited a few of our area's Sugar Shacks-- it is a ton of work to boil 40 gallons of sap into 1 gallon of syrup and we met entire families working together towards that goal. It is very inspirational to see grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren all working towards the same goal. In my experience, it hasn't been too often when kids want to be part of a family business. Granted, this activity is just for a couple of weeks each year, lol.

     We came back with this haul! Each syrup was better than the last, so we kept buying incrementally bigger jugs! There are going to be a lot of WAFFLES and PANCAKES in our future.

     So, I promise I'm not going to end every blog post with chickens and become a farm blog! But there is my Bea the Brahma in the center-- she has quickly made herself the center of attention and "quarterback" of the team. 

    I'm enough of a farm girl to know the ills of feeding animals by hand... i.e. when you have six horses rushing towards you for one carrot...  but not smart enough to avoid doing it. So my little monsters are now flying into my hand and roosting up my arm when I reach into their box! This won't end well when each weighs 8lbs, but they are just SO CUTE!

    Thanks for joining me... let's step boldly into the week and embrace all that it brings-- whether it is REFUND, or WRITE ANOTHER CHECK, and let's sew on!

xoxo

Carol