A History of our BOMs Part 2

      Good news... We didn't miss our tenth anniversary of BOMs as I thought! (Not to be confused with the company anniversary-- we are 21 years old this year-- started on eBay in 2003!) One of my long time customers corrected me-- her Series One Mug Rugs were filed in a "2014" folder-- she was right. I looked up the first mug rug, the snowflake, and it was designed in December of 2013-- that's what mixed me up. I have to admit I'm one of those people who never likes to be wrong-- but this time, it is wonderful! Thank you, Pam.

     And thank you, ALL, for your nice comments on Part One of this blog post! Although I hate to be wrong, I don't like to toot my own horn very much, and had some uncomfortable moments last time, pontificating on my sets. Well, I had to chuckle when one person said they couldn't wait for Part Two. I'm sure my family would not like to find out you all encouraged this behavior!

    So, let's go-- more about ME! (Machine Embroidery) When we left off, I had taken a slight breather when I moved from "thread painted sets" like the Cloud Club birds in 2018, and digitized something a little easier like the Cross Stitch of the Month designs in 2019. The fateful year of 2020 had begun-- we were all totally unaware. What to digitize next? Well, I decided to do BOTH a cross stitch and a thread painting set. And to make it further crazy, around this time I started going through the cross stitch states, because one of you thought I could do it over a period of two years. (They were right! :-)

    SERIES 7-- Cottage of the Month

Who doesn't love a cross stitch cottage? Cross stitch was back in high favor by the masses at this point. I must admit I had "Cottage Envy" looking at hand stitch designer "Cottages of the Month." I knew I had to machine embroider a set. What is the difference between hand and machine cross stitch? For one, the hand cross stitchers of today really don't want to back stitch-- on the machine, backstitch can abound! So I am not saying that one is better than the other-- no backstitching certainly gives a folksy look-- but with backstitch, you can add detail, detail, detail. I am a lover of detail, in case you hadn't noticed. I have tried to convert my designs for hand stitchers-- and I'm still trying, but who in the world would want to backstitch this? 

Would you want to backstitch this by hand? Heehee.

Anyway, in addition to a ton of back stitch, each of my cottages had a "virtue."  I made postcard versions, mug rugs, and quilt blocks of each design. I was happily writing a little note to myself on the back of the postcard versions as a kind of scrapbook of the year. Then, all of the sudden the pandemic hit...  in April, when I tried to write a note to my future self-- events just welled up in me and I unexpectedly started to cry.

Even, though I stopped writing postcards to myself that year, you have no idea how designing those cottages with all of their virtues got me through all those dark months. It's hard now to even want to recall the details of it, isn't it?

I was finally able to circle back to JOY by the end of the year. xox.

I am happy to say, this quilt is fully assembled, not finished, but fully ready for quilting-- it really speaks to my heart. When things become precious, it is sometimes had to work on them, as you are afraid to "ruin" them-- do you relate? So I'm not quite sure how to quilt it-- I don't like going on top of cross stitch. But this one I am confident will be a finish in a couple of years or so. And I will definitely be writing something about 2020 on the label.

Also Running concurrently for my non-cross stitch customers:

SERIES 8: Stitches of the Sea!

I guess I had some sort of foreknowledge we'd need a lot to work on in 2020! I always loved the shore, the sea, boats-- this series  was pure joy.

I worked both sets along each month. The Cottages were somewhat geared to the time of year, but for my watery world, it was pure whim-- whatever inspired me.

I got right through with both sets to September-- then, I became fixated on doing an OCTOPUS in OCTOBER!!! Haha-- that one really beat me up. There's nothing that makes me crazier than to see a digitized snowflake that doesn't have SIX points-- my octopus must have EIGHT arms! Okay, so one of them is mostly behind his head...

It took me until January of 2021 to release the Octopus. So that was it-- there was no "official" BOM in 2021-- I finished up the Stitches of the Sea. I'm always full of excuses-- I was initially beset with all kinds of problems-- I ran out of the backing fabric and couldn't order more during the pandemic-- wasn't able to get my preferred stabilizer, etc. etc. Of all my incomplete work, this one is the least complete. Well, let's frame it in a positive light-- it is the MOST PHOTOSHOPPED. :-) I do have little mini-quilt finished with four of the best stitch-outs I had at the end. Would I like to go back and finish it? Yes, I would. Will I? Probably not. It deserves to be.

Next up, also started in 2020, completed in 2022:

CAREFREE HIGHWAYS

I just LOVED doing these-- I always loved the states as a kid. I did one every couple of weeks for two years... that's dedication-- and I can still impress people with my knowledge of state capitals, birds, flowers,  AND mottos!

I intended to go through alphabetically, but a customer from Wyoming objected. So instead, I came up with groups of five themed states-- like "Eastern Seaboard ," "Heartland Home," and "Southern Charm. These were the last five. Turning Mount Rushmore into a 14ct Aida design was really fun. 

My finished quilt? Highly, highly confident of a finish on this one. I have all the state blocks, the fabric, and flying geese paper ready to go... AND, I even know where it is! On my bucket list for this year.

So that brings us all the way to 2022-- turning away from cross stitch and back to regular embroidery.

SERIES NINE: Birth Month Mug Rugs

I really enjoyed making these-- I found a random person I knew with a birthday for each month and sent them out. They were all received very well. I do have a set for myself-- I like to change them out each month.

My quilt blocks, however, never panned out-- we decided to move! I would have loved a scrap quilt of these-- but there are others I'd like to finish more. I'm very proud of this set--  the gems were fun to do, I had a nice format to just follow along each month, and they weren't as technically challenging as some of the other sets I had done in the past. This was one of the few sets I did a "subscription" for-- I'm not sure I would do that again, unless I got really ahead one year-- it just creates a monthly to do and a deadline that is always a creativity crusher!

SERIES TEN: Bowl Fillers

Last year was back to cross stitch-- settling in to a new home and just making a set of fun designs for décor each month. You all received this very well-- thank you so much! I intend to keep it going this year with holiday themes instead of the month, as far as I can. This month, I'm working on Sewing bowl fillers and next month will be a Valentine theme. I do need to get a picture of all of them together-- it is quite a barrel full at this point, and I know many of you kept up! I need to get my January set back out.

So here we are, ready for Series 11! It's really hard to believe. I did have fun digitizing the Winterland Village, and I do hope to have some lovely, LARGE, winter themed quilt blocks early this year. Beyond that, we will see what comes-- I'm freewheeling it a bit more than I have in the past, I guess.

Some one wrote me last year, saying that I should tell "which designers do which sets"... well, I had a moment of pride to say it is all me! I did train as a graphic designer and I did do some illustration back in the day-- it is really fun to look back and see all the different roads I travelled on-- it may seem random, but one series definitely suggests the next one, and I hope to be blessed to do this for a good long time yet.

As in any journey-- it is best shared! Seeing my customer finishes is always best and it's surprising to see the direction you take-- I am amazed when I see finishes more creative than the ones I imagined. Thank you so much for reading the history of ME and San Francisco Stitch Co., currently situated in the Western Mountains of Maine awaiting a snowstorm.   

xoxo

Carol

A History of BOMs at SFO Part One...

      I'm a hardcore nostalgia lover-- circling through all the sales in December certainly brought back years of memories! I have been doing "designs of the month" since 2013-- I guess we just missed my tenth anniversary year! Anyway, we are going to go through all ten of them (and there's even more, that weren't "official" :-) on the sale page this year-- the first of every month, each "January," "February," and so on block will be discounted-- so if you missed one, you can catch up this year-- or maybe complete your set of a past stitch-a-long-- it's a given that people drop off as the year progresses! So I thought a "guide" to what the Block of the Months are and how they developed would be fun to write.

      So this all started eleven years ago, when January rolled around and I asked for suggestions about what people wanted to stitch. One person responded simply "Mug Rugs!" I wish I could go back in time and find and give that genius a hug-- that's where it all started. 

     I had no idea what a mug rug was-- I didn't use one, still don't-- I display mine! But I figured it out and behold! a 5x7 hoop was perfect-- that's what most of us had then-- and made this little beauty for January.

Some combination of the day it was introduced, the fact that we had just completed a free stitch-a-long, and  providence- well, let me just say I uploaded it at night and when I got up in the morning, to see the sales figures, my eyes popped out of my head! I'd have to say, this was definitely the moment when I saw I was going to be able to quit my day job--- I had real business!

Of course, it then became a monthly project. In my folders, they are filed as simply January Mug Rug, February Mug Rug and so on. I had no clue that I would continue into a second year, then ten years, or that these would now be known as "Series One Mug Rugs."

SERIES ONE MUG RUGS

I still love them and have most of them- except for the lily pads, which quickly absorbed water and then sank into Triangle Pond near my house as I snapped a glamour shot-- it was either the mug rug or the camera that could be saved, that afternoon. 

I couldn't make another one-- no more of that glorious batik fabric-- and I sometimes do wonder if I made the right choice that day. The camera was replaceable-- I should have respected my artwork more than I did!

A couple of these I went on to embellish and turn into little art pieces. No, no cups of coffee on mine.

This one even won a ribbon at the Bayberry Quilter's of Cape Cod annual show:

And, you've probably seen the Featherweight Mug Rug, formerly known as the December Mug Rug, gets updated every year with a new date. To shake it up next year, I might do one with a more modern machine?

There's a story behind all of them, but let's move on-- now that my hobby business was flourishing, could Series Two be far behind? 

SERIES TWO MUG RUGS

All of the mug rugs were quilted in the hoop, but they were hand-bound. Now I know you machine embroiderers love your ITH projects, but really, there's nothing more beautiful than a fabric binding. (To advance my cause, I have a tutorial on how to do it on YouTube-- my skills were certainly perfected doing these mug rugs each month!) Anyway, somehow, part of the way through Series Two, I realized the satin stitch I was using as a design element could also be a finished edge. So by the time the "Peace" mug rug rolled around, there were two versions. And I am sorry to say, the all-in-the-hoop satin stitched edging is still far outperforming the hand bound version. But I won't judge you. xox

The time to fully finish these into art pieces evaporated with the burgeoning business model-- but I still love them all-- the July Mug Rug really speaks to my heart-- I even sketched it out as a 30" x 40" wall quilt, but have gotten no further. It will have to wait until I retire, and if I keep having this much fun with new designs, that will be never.

SERIES THREE- Baltimore Album Blocks

Heck with mug rugs- I was over it. I guess I saw that you could make them square, combine blocks, and make a quilt! The machine embroidered Baltimore Album quilt was born. I did it all for this series-- mug rugs, ITH, hand bound, quilt blocks and I was rewarded! It took a year to design the blocks, and then another few good months to set them with machine embroidered sashing and outer borders, but I won a Second Place Overall ribbon at one of the big AQS Paducah shows!

A fancy machine embroidered label for the back, of course!

(It is made with a Series Two mug rug design-- lol)

The sashing and borders:

All crystalled and ready for the show!

If you are crazy enough to want to make this, I'm sorry, you can't! The outer borders are not available for purchase-- you have no idea of the gnashing of teeth required to get them aligned-- resizing 1/2 percent, rotating 3 percent, etc. etc.

I sent it in for the show, hoping for maybe a third prize-- it is well know if you get a top prize, you get a call. I was driving at the time-- I glanced down and saw "PADUCAH, KY displayed on my phone while it rang-- I almost crashed the car! By the time I pulled over, all that was left was a message. But it was extremely gratifying to say the least-- most of all, because I think machine embroidery did not get the respect that other quilting techniques do, and I think I helped change that.

SERIES FOUR-- The Language of Flowers

Because the blocks I enjoyed most on the Baltimore quilt were flower baskets, a flower series was inevitable. I digitized from January's crocuses (that's a bit optimistic for Maine weather-- heehee) to December's crocuses. (Also a bit optimistic-- our daffodils appear in April, to be truthful.) 

So this is obviously photoshopped-- the center of the quilt exists as a fully bound finished item, (somewhere) and the outside borders are stitched (somewhere) and even the machine embroidered edging was started, and it is (somewhere.) This is a project that has just had too many interruptions for five years now, and currently, after the move, I could not really even put my hands on it. I do feel sad about this, but in my mind, I still think I will get back to it a future date-- don't we all have these precious things lurking in our closets? Then there is that gnawing feeling that our sewing days are finite. So that's all I have to say about that-- we all have these feelings, and we do all need to get our beloved projects out and we need complete them-- a New Year is a great time to plan this, isn't it?

SERIES FIVE-- The Cloud Club

On to Series Five-- just because I love birds! I got my confidence up with the realism of the flowers and decided to tackle it. I quilted little scenes in the backgrounds this time:

Everyone LOVED this series-- it actually spilled into overtime with an additional five birds-- eighteen in all.

And, the exquisite "Feather Block"-- some of my work is definitely more commercial, and some is more artistic-- but this is, in my mind, my "masterwork" design that I have ever produced in twenty years of doing this:

But, I am definitely looking at the Cloud Club with pangs-- it is not even as far along as the Flower piece, and exists as separate blocks in a box somewhere-- another photoshopped finish. I've seen many finished quilts with ribbons-- you, my customers are killing it! This year?

SERIES SIX:  Cross Stitch of the Month

So the birds spilled into a second year-- not much was ever really reaching the finished stage-- it was time for something a little easier. This was the year I knuckled down and learned a new software. Cross stitch is comparatively easy to design next to a Cloud Club bird! Off I went.

The pressure on machine embroidery prices is down, down, down-- have you noticed? And the popularity of cross stitch is up, up, up-- and these types of designs have really kept me open for business the past few years. They are basically "pixel" art-- easy to sketch, easy to digitize, and you can pretty much get them to work in one stitch out-- a Cloud Club bird can easily be three or four tries.

So there were the original monthly designs the first year, and then I went on to make the holiday "specials." There are 11 of those now, and as soon as I figure out what #12 is.. Happy Anniversary? I will offer them as a set as well. "Series 5-1/2!"

I have this photo in my files, "Marie" sent it to me-- that's all I know of Marie. Proof that mug rugs and quilt blocks are cousins! Marie-- if you are out there-- I'd love a better picture-- you are a scrap quilt GENIUS and I absolutely love what you did!

So, none of the quilts are coming along in my studio-- but yours are! So that brings me to my most favorite time of year... State Fair time-- at the end of every summer-- you send me pictures of YOUR finishes-- most of which always have ribbons. So I can lament my unfinished work, but it does not compare with seeing what YOU do with the designs-- it is honestly the best part of being here. 

So that's the first five years of Block of the Month-- I feel like I have tooted my horn too much in this post, but I hope I have inspired you to some finishing. Come back this weekend to see the last five, and find out about plans for 2024!

xox

Carol

Happy New Year!

    I'm willing to bet there's quite a few of you out there who want nothing more today than a little scroll through quilt-y content, a little sewing time, and just a tiny dinner after all that eating! I'm here for you-- happy to blather a little about this and that, to fulfill that first need.

    I am SEW happy to say I have an extremely positive attitude this January 1st--- let's hope the circumstances of 2024 cooperate. First, I'm going to show you what Santa brought me, then what I bought myself-- haha! Then, just a tiny bit of sewing progress-- there hasn't been much-- and finally thoughts on what I'd like to digitize this year.

    It pretty much sums up being an adult-- we can buy whatever we want, can't we?  So my family always agrees not to go crazy at Christmas. That being said, I was really touched at all of the very thoughtful gifts I received. You could tell that much care went into selecting each and every item. Here I am, captured at an extremely emotional moment when I opened the gift of new lightning chargers for my phone.

    Santa also brought me a beautiful new down jacket-- I wasn't expecting one and it will sure come up handy in these colder winters than we are used to. I had to promise not to wear it in the coop! (This is the old coat-- (BTW, Buttercup is overwintering like a CHAMP-- still laying every day!)

    Finally, I got this wedding photo-- if you are a fan of my blog, you know we have been under construction here for about a year. Like I always say, I knew I would have a beautiful home when I married an architect, but I never realized what it would take to get it. So my daughter's wedding this year was on top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire-- wouldn't you know it, when we got up there-- construction was going on!! We had to beg the photographer to take this shot-- eschewing the gorgeous backdrops all around us-- but trust me, this was my favorite, and the most appropriate photo of the day.

     So that was the Santa haul-- now, I had a few good chuckles to myself, as packages kept arriving for this one and that one well after Christmas! I guess we just each wanted to make sure we got what we really wanted. They were all making a mockery of me each time a fabric package came in, but believe me, they had just as many. Fabric stores should try to be more discreet. 

     Here are "my" packages--

   I bought the finishing kit for the December Sew Sampler box. Now, just looking at that ghastly green, I have to wonder why I did that. I just wanted to complete my box challenge-- completing all twelve Sew Sampler boxes of 2023. It's going to take the better part of January to wrap it up-- and I can already see it dragging beyond that. But I really want to. 

     The Seasonal Stitchy Stars kit was a bit of an impulse buy. But nothing wrong with those colors! I don't have a table long enough for it-- but it would be easy to use the blocks for a squarer shape, or pillows. The pumpkin zipper pull was 50% off-- it is sew fun to add one of these to your pocket book.

     Then my Kona calendar and charm pack squares came in. What a feast for the eyes! The calendar has a quilt block each month-- and there a twelve months of Kona solid charm packs-- no two squares alike. I really hope I use them this year. As you see, there's a quilt-a-month-- no, thanks!-- or just make a block a month. Yes, please.

     Finally, the Tilda Christmas quilt fabric came in. I love her aesthetic and both the fabric and the pattern are just that little bit different from what you usually see. So want to make it! Just look at those little mice.

   I do feel a bit guilty about my spending-- things are not cheap these days! Obviously I was working really hard last month and just starting rewarding myself. When am I going to have time to make all these things? So it's New Year's "diet" resolution time once again.

    I did try to get at least 15 minutes of sewing in each night, but mostly failed. Too busy and too tired. My Alfresco quilt got the borders completed, and everything else is cut. I have corner stars and assembly to go. Do or die, this week-- I have a Jolly Box, and now the December box sitting around! Then, that's it for Sew Sampler challenge-- I'm keeping my subscription for the time being, but only making the ones I love this year. When I think back on the year, there has just been way too much pink.

     So I have to admit, whe I laid this out on the floor for the first time-- instead of a "WOW" moment, I got a "MEH!" I'm not totally in love with that purple... maybe there's a reason for all those white backgrounds in the Sew Sampler boxes. There goes my New Year's positivity, and it's not even lunch time! I guess I'll chalk it up to experience-- I am glad I tried something different. There ya go. And that's it for sewing last week.

     I have a ton of ideas for next year's embroidery.. a complete fountain. I am bit gun shy of starting a new BOM-- the monthly commitment is a creativity crusher. I have some ideas, but instead of just diving in, I'm going to slip in sideways, and see where they go. The BOM so far is that I am going to make monthly holiday bowl fillers-- January's theme is going to be sewing-- we already did winter. And then February will be Valentine's Day and so on.

     I also had a cute idea for a monthly cross stitch village series-- temporarily named "Lands That I Love." The first would be "Winterland," the second, again for Valentine's Day would be "Heartland"-- maybe just "Ireland" for a St. Patrick's day theme. Here are loose sketches for the first two-- it is so nice to use a pencil again, I can't tell you. December was a month of staring at a computer screen.

        I happen to know a monthly cross stitch wreath would be extremely popular. Weigh in below-- thumbs up or down? What would you like to see?

     So that's cross stitch ideas-- yup, there are those of your who don't appreciate it. I had some comments at the time of the stitch-a-long-- you know, it was only the paying customers of 2023 who got it FREE-- so a few people commented they didn't like anything last year, too much cross stitch, that's why they didn't buy! Haha-- how's that for a way to ingratiate yourself? I do hear you-- but there were quite a few regular embroidery sets last year, but trust me when I say, cross stitch got the bills paid last year. 

   I do have many, many plans for regular embroidery. First up, because a 12 month commitment is hard, how about four months? I'd love to do LARGE Winter Twist blocks early this year. I loved doing them last year, and I'm learning to appreciate winter more in my current location! How about it?

 I also want to make a bunch of sewing themed things this winter-- always a customer favorite-- and NOT cross stitch. Thread Zen, anyone?

 Sewing snowglobes? Too much winter? Seasonal Sewing Snowglobes?

    And trust me, there are many, many more things swimming in my head for 2024! I was going to come up with a "Word of the Year," to focus my efforts. But the habit seems a bit silly to me-- does it to you? I am much more than one word.

    Nevertheless the DD made me come up with a potential one-- drum roll, please. It is....

SELFISH!

Yes, I intend to spend a TON of time enjoying myself and sewing, sewing, sewing, and only coming out to pet chickens!

Thanks for reading and have a lovely first day of the year!

xox

Carol