For the die hard fans and friends!

      I just wanted to get FOUR posts done in November... precious little sewing has been going on, so I will really have to dig for material. We'll just say this post is only for the most diehard SFO fans out there!

     Last I left you, I was sick as a dog... this bug really knocked me out for the entire month. I did finally go to the doctor at the urging of some of you-- it was a total waste of time. No, I am not going into bronchitis. Just over the counter stuff was suggested. Should've saved my $30 copay for fabric!

    The Sew Sampler Challenge is about to die--- While I am almost finished with the October Box, November and the Jolly box have piled right on in. Both have sets of nine fat quarters, and neither of them seem to suggest any "easy" project options.

     November features Tula Pink's new "Besties" fabric-- I'm not a huge fan, but I do appreciate it. I had thought of just sewing them all together whole, getting it quilted and donating it-- CHECK it off the list! The fabrics are all large scale-- maybe a good compromise is to cut 8" squares? Another good compromise would be-- JUST GIVE UP ON THE CHALLENGE-- heehee. I think I'm already a winner with all that I did do!

    And here's the Jolly box-- the overwhelming opinion of this box has been decidedly underwhelming-- I love it though! I think it's a good value-- I love the little candy cane charm and unlike most sewists, I can always use fresh pins and needles. 

    I also like the pattern and the fabric-- unfortunately, not that pattern with that fabric-- it's again large scale prints, which I don't think make particularly good candy canes. I see them as more of a "wrapping paper" idea with "present and bow" quilt blocks. And that is not going to happen before Christmas, or even the end of the year.

     The point of the Sew Sampler Challenge was to have nice Christmas gifts this year-- I do have a ton of possibilities, unlike last year when I had NOTHING. Since tomorrow is December 1st, I really need to sit down and figure out who is getting what-- then tie up some loose ends, mostly binding.

     I also want to make some of these cute folded fabric stars this year-- have you seen them? Click the link below to be taken to a video on it by Erica Arndt-- I swiped the photo from her. 

Folder Star Ornament Video

     And I never got back to my Shabby fabrics star pot holders-- I gave away this Autumn one--lol. I have tons of Christmas fabric that could be used-- nice gift!

     Good news is, Mr. SFO is traveling for the next two weeks-- don't get me wrong, I do feel sorry for him and will miss him, but it's going to enable some LONG sewing days to help me make up for November. Honestly, I could hit it out of the park with a two or three days effort.

     In other news, I had to have a couple of little biopsies of a patch on my neck this past month-- it was extremely stressful as we all have experienced. The idea that you are full of cancer is never good news for anyone, but for us quilters with the closets full of UFOs, it is particularly frightening. The first was was inconclusive, the second one proved it was pre-cancerous, but then I had to get it removed anyway. I'm super grateful to be able to put that behind me-- that was part of why I was down in spirits all month. 

     I had to drive back to civilization to have all these medical things done-- and more good news, I got most of my Christmas shopping done... just a few little things this year. I did finally succumb to the gingerbread giant sign pictured above, from Michaels, that was 50% off. Mr. SFO is an architect and will not be impressed-- he likes his house super spartan. After he saw me struggle all month, I think he'll give in.

        Some of you are looking for a free Christmas stitch-a-long, and heaven knows we need it this year. So I am trying to get something together last minute-- maybe some cute ornaments or something. I found out a sobering statistic this year-- 60% of my customer base has only ever "bought" free things. So are you on the naughty or nice list? I am actively working to only have access to my free stitch-a-long to paying customers-- I think that is fair.

    Thank you for reading my blog, now let's sit down and make our Santa lists and SEW!

xox

Carol

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Just wanted to write a quick post to wish everyone...

And I apologize, but that's all I have to say about that--
so warning-- stop reading if that's good enough for you!

 
My cold has not let up-- I now think I'm going into bronchitis-- the cough is really scary. I have considered going to the walk-in clinic just to get checked out a bit, but I guess on a positive note, I have not had to do it yet. As my father-in-law frequently said in his wisdom, "When it gets bad enough, you'll go."

Miraculously, no one else has gotten it--
and I'm well enough to get Thanksgiving basics cooked-- turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole-- but no one really wants me handling their food, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. 

Very little, but some, sewing has occurred this week-- here's my Pressed Flowers Block 7, looking as rumpled as me.

And I did get my extra charm pack, backing, and binding for the Lighthearted Christmas tree. Hoping I feel well enough to finish it-- it's ironic that sewing boosts my spirits, but my spirit isn't in it! 

I absolutely FORCED myself to get all 16 Summer Memories units pieced, but I'm too weak to drag them all out for a photo-- it's going to be king-sized.

On a more positive note, I did knock the December Bowl Fillers out of the park and completed the set of twelve! LOL. The time in my life when my DD took figure skating lessons was a really sweet one. 

If you would rather buy a set of twelve instead of only seeing one at a time, the set is now available. Click the photo to see them all-- it is glorious.

It's been a really tough year on a personal level-- there's a few empty seats at our table this year for various reason I can't talk about--LOL-- and I know so many of you are struggling as well. If you need to know someone's in the trenches with you-- imagine me holding your hand.

I guess the point of Thanksgiving is--

let's be grateful for what we do have--
let's just count the seats that are full-- it is still a lot. 

Snow is falling in the meadow as I write,

and I think I'll watch a little Hallmark Channel...

xox

Carol

Down for the Count...

      What do you do when you are stressed and overwhelmed? Yup... how about get a bad cold! I honestly haven't had one in quite a while so I don't want to complain too much, but my current state includes a screaming sore throat, light fever, and very snivelly nose. I know everyone else is at the breaking point and beyond, so I'm soldiering along as best I can for all of us. I usually don't lie down to a cold, because it never really helps anyway!

     As I write it is November 11, Veterans Day. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the truce with Germany went into effect. Later, Armistice Day was turned into Veteran's Day to recognize all wars. Thank you to all of our servicemen and women, of course.

     In that spirit, I decided to liberate myself from the monotony of Sew Sampler boxes shortly and join the Cherrywood Challenge next year! You may have seen these displays of hundreds of 20x20 quilts at any of the large quilt shows. Past themes have been Monarch, Lady Diana, the Lion King... What's not to like about a competition in which the first step is to buy fabric! 

   The 2024 theme is the Poppy-- I already have an idea for it. My grandfather was shot and gassed in the trenches of WWI-- a bit of a tribute quilt is in mind. He kept a bullet and a tiny bottle of iodine he was given to treat his wound in his top dresser drawer. He never spoke about it, and I was too little to ask questions. Years later, I realized when he told the same story about "pass the du beurre" at every single dinner time in my young life, that was the only reference he ever made to his time in France. Anyway, I may or may not act upon it, or may or may not get accepted, but it's keeping my creative brain in gear and thinking of something other than my current state of misery. 

    Click either of the photos above to go the Challenge page-- I swiped the photos from Cherrywood. Maybe you want to join me or maybe you just need 8 fat quarters of beautiful hand dyed fabric-- now mum's the word and that's the last I have to say about that until the contest closes in May.

     So back to my Sew Sampler Snoozers! Am I sorry I challenged myself to make all the boxes this past year? Actually, not sorry-- if I learned a few things it was how to focus, complete repetitive tasks, and drag things across the finish line. I'm keeping my subscription until the Pressed Flowers BOM stops in about April-- then it is "Sayanora" to the lovely teal boxes-- I'm moving on to other things. 

     Until then, I have about thirteen projects mostly finished and three to go-- November, December, and the Jolly Box. November looks to be Tula Pink "Besties" fabric which I will like-- I will bet my bottom dollar it's gonna be one of those white background modern looking quilts again, though. Remind me to keep it simple, will you?

     I finished September's box and it is off the the longarmer-- this one is intended for a Christmas gift-- that's a good motivator. Here is me when I measured for the borders-- my focus is completely blown right now. But ya gotta laugh.

     So I did that thing you're not supposed to do which is just sew the border on and then trim it down, but at least I pinned it. It looks flat enough, and it's done.

      I finished the Tree Farm Table Runner-- look for two new Christmas sets Black Friday-- less than two weeks away, can you believe it?

     I've been working along the Summer Memories quilt-- making the larger four unit blocks now that the baskets are all done. They really look pretty and have give me a smile and occupational therapy when I needed it. Just by assembling one or two at night, look where I am!

     This is the October box-- some of you were interest to make my "Lighthearted Christmas" idea from a free Fat Quarter Shop pattern instead of the Valentine-sy heart pattern provided and it is coming along. I miscut four of the aqua sky pieces, so it's back to Fat Quarter Shop I go. (sigh) I was going to order a larger piece of Lighthearted for another border and a backing anyway. The unfinished unit size is 4.5" and I changed the layout to 10x10 if you want to copy it. I do see a few pieces I may flip around.

    So that's all I have to say about that-- I am going to collapse in bed next. I may be skipping a week of blogging here and there for the rest of the year, as I'm going to be busy with sales... until next time... hold fast and keep on sewing!

xox

Carol

NO!-vember has arrived!

     It's apparent to me online how many people are struggling right now and I'm having some heartache myself... I have comforted myself with the idea that "at least rockets aren't coming down on our heads," but what kind of comfort is that? I make a list for myself to numbly follow each day-- it helps, but for two days I couldn't even sew. I said I was going to come up with a nickname to follow "FFOctober"-- all I can think of is "NO!vember", and I'm not too sure I can turn that into a "YES!vember" this month. 

    These pumpkins at a local grocery store did make me smile. I think #1 ate some of the gumballs required for the job. I voted for #9-- the starry night kitty. But the candy corn apple #3 was a close second. Clever.

   My finish date for "FFOctober" was on Saturday-- I even gave myself a couple extra days, but in the name of keeping it real, I just have to admit I'm a little disappointed. Here's the final results of my October list: (TIP: just skip down to the bottom if you are tired of reading about these endless, boring projects-- I did start some new things-- LOL--- thank goodness, always, for the NEW.)

1. September Sew Sampler Box-- not quite done, but it's on my list for today. I made it bigger-- although just after taking this picture, I noticed the first row on the left is on upside down. (sigh) I'll fix it, add a six inch border all around, and make the backing, hopefully today. This is a Christmas gift for a special couple my daughter and son-in-law met on the Appalachian Trail last year-- making gifts is really helping my frame of mind.

2. Neighbor #5
These could have easily been in the done column, but I made it more complicated when I realized I want a more vertical than square piece, and you, dear readers, agreed with me--TYSVM! So it's a bit on hold until I make a top row of churn dash blocks for each.

3. Resilient Quilt-- no progress. First, I needed more fabric-- then, my least favorite part of quilting, adding borders, stopped me. I pre-washed a bunch of  yards for a backing--  MISTAKE-- the huge wad of five yards has been sitting on my ironing board for the entire month of October.

4. Corn Pop Pillows--here's a win. It's been a great comfort to me to nap with my kitty on chilly afternoons. We moved all the furniture around in the living room, and we've all been enjoying it more. Do you ever rearrange stuff?

5. Pressed Flowers Block 6-- Yes, I have six done, and the pattern for #7 is here, but I still have three weeks to make it. I really love these blocks because they are very unusual-- don't tell anyone, but I might be making friends with the color pink.

6. Oval Table Runner-FAIL! I did get it cut out into the oval-- then the "thing" happened in the news last week. I can't find the fabric I bought for the binding. I really wouldn't even be using this until the spring. I made the adult decision to shelve it again-- see ya' next year! On the plus side, just looking at this photo makes me hope it's not the complete abomination I was thinking it was.

7. Mod Flower Box-- no progress. Just needs a binding. It's for me, not a gift--(or a gift for me) and I probably wouldn't be hanging it till next spring anyway. I still may finish it before the end of the year. The poor thing has been sitting on a chair in the shambles of my sewing room all of October.

8. Tree Farm Table Runner. So this is really in the win column-- it did need quite a bit more work than I thought. Just need to do a little quilting (very little, heehee) and it's ready for sale later this month. Looks busy, but it's a big piece and the little red truck border is to die for.

9. Fruit Cocktail Table Runner- no progress. Another thing I'm really not looking to use right now. I wanted to quilt it myself-- do I just send it out? On hold for now. There it is next to my Thimbleberries Christmas one I modelled it after-- time to get that one back out already, can you believe it!

10. Spooky Box. A nice surprise--- I did actually finish this (flimsy finish), it's super cute, and it also fits my coffee table perfectly. I still want to make the baby ghost version, but the Halloween spirit never "materialized" this year. There's always next year and I now have plenty of time for that. Thank goodness I do not have to piece a backing, so I may just send it our for quilting.

     Summer memories was asterisked as #11-- I did get significant progress-- This is getting to be a long post, so I'll update you next week.

    So that's it! The final tally is 4 FFOs, 4 significant progress, 3 not touched. That's a very "C" report card for me. I'm thinking of personal takeaways for why it is so hard for me to drag stuff across the line.  (TIP: If you learn something from your failures, that makes it a success!! ha)

1. Things always seem to take longer than I think they will. 

2. My fatal flaw-- complicating things-- adding extra steps.

3. Borders, binding, and backings are three B's that I really don't enjoy.

4. The thrill of the new-- enough said.

    Can I change any of these characteristics? Probably not.

   So, speaking of the NEW,  here's some new things I pecked at this week. (Speaking of pecking-- I slammed myself with rake handle to the head in classic Three Stooges fashion while chasing one of those little chicken buggers last week. I guess I should be glad I'm alive... a video of the accident would have won $10,000 on Americas Funnies Videos if one existed)

   I though a bit of cross stitch in the evening would soothe my soul-- it did. I started the Lori Holt stitch cards set P-- they are sewing themed. These go together fast. Two of the colors look too blandish to me, in the name of complicating things and adding extra steps to find new colors.

     This one I purchased for myself last year during the "move." I was feeling sorry for myself! It is a beauty, but one I think will take the course of years. The colors are presorted-- just look at them all! So I have my choice of easy or hard cross stitch at night. Which one do you think I usually choose?

     Last, I did start the October Sew Sampler box with my alternate Christmas tree plan I showed you. So far, I have 18 pinwheels for the border-- I though they looked like starlight mints. This is probably the thing I am most enjoying right now.

   I made Thanksgiving Bowl Fillers-- super cute and next on my list to stuff today-- look for them on the website tomorrow. Special thanks for the inspo to my friend Sara whose daughter owns that real barn in the heartland. <3

     So that's the state of affairs! Hope I distracted you for a moment and that the misery of unfinished projects kept you company. Let's join hands and go forward-- we can't go back.

xox

Carol

Twelve hours in October (derailed)...

     It's time once again (already?) for our monthly sew-a-thon! Once a month, I allow myself an entire day of sewing... this month, to add to the fun, Mr. SFO is not away, so let's see if he notices I'm not actually doing any work today! I will be responsible for dinner, though.

     I made a list of ten items that were very close to the finish line for "FFOctober"-- that's FULLY FINISHED OCTOBER if you have had a question mark over your head all month as to what it meant. So I did get three things completed-- today, I really want to CRUSH some more to be able to call this month a success. Three involve bindings, one involves borders-- these are all do or die today. If I have leftover time, I'm going to treat myself and start the Lighthearted Christmas tree I talked about in the last post.

9:00am. First up, Corn Pop Pillows. The table runner has been done for more than a couple of weeks, but I ran out of the binding fabric-- so lucky to have found more, still at Fat Quarter Shop. These are fully, fully, fully finished-- quilted front and back, and they are going to be a huge upgrade to my fall décor for years to come. You may recall how I sewed all the pieces together to be long armed as one piece-- my dear longarm friend advised me to do this, but has now created a monster as everything is getting stitched together as "two for the price of one" at this point! 

    I said I would show how I was doing this, so here it is. You need three pieces-- your front, and two backing pieces-- both are 2/3 the height of your front. You can also see the two backing pieces have been prepped with binding along one of the longer edges.

     Pin a backing piece to the front aligning outside edges as shown-- the wrong sides are together. Pin out of the seam line, as some of these cannot be removed as you stitch along. If your pillow front  has a top and and a bottom, start with the bottom piece  (Tip: If you insert the point of your needle back into the fabric after pinning, you greatly reduce your chance of getting pricked!)

    Then do the same for the top piece. Make sure all your edges are nicely aligned.

     Baste all layers together, all the way around, at an extremely scant 1/4" seam line. (That's 3/16" for those of you who like math!)  If you get "bubbles" as you go along, just use a stiletto to ease them in as you stitch along. It's great if your pieces are perfectly flat, but remember, this is ultimately a 3D object so if things get wonky, it may not matter. Check your work-- especially make sure the raw edges of the binding strips are caught in, as well as the parts of the underneath backing piece you can't see. Take out all the pins-- don't forget some are hidden underneath the top backing piece.

     Now make 2-1/2" wide binding strips--  just sew them on as you normally would for a quilt. I'm hand stitching mine down-- all the hand stitching is NOT part of the day today-- I'll get it done in the course of the week. I buy pillow inserts 2" bigger than my pillow tops all around-- it may be a bit of a wrestling job to get them in, but I really love an overstuffed look-- except in the mirror, of course!(One last tip: If you iron that binding up and around and in place before sewing, it is going to make it SEW much easier on your hands and avoid that bump, bump, bump look when hand stitching it down.)

     I absolutely LOVE this way to finish a pillow-- they look beyond professional. Fun and done and ready to enjoy this Thanksgiving-- unless my son's crew of two boys and a dog show up-- then I am HIDING them! Two hours and done-- that includes taking pictures and writing about it. It is amazing how one little thing holds a project up-- but when you actually DO IT, instead of just over-thinking about it, it gets done so fast!

11:00am Next up, my April tablerunner that's been sitting around for months. I don't like it. I keep reminding myself I do like the backing fabric and can just turn it upside down. I have considered gifting it, but I'm really not the type of person to gift stuff I want to get rid of. I just can't do it. I've had the oval template ready for months-- that was kind of neat idea-- so let's just cut already. (Mr. SFO has crossed my path several times this morning, with no notice that I am at my machine at an unusual hour-- but I may just take a minute to fold wash to keep up appearances. It says a lot about this piece that I'd actually rather fold wash that start it.)

     Since I'm working along a ton of projects right now, I have had the presence of mind to store all the parts in separate "cubbies" on cube shelves I have. So I can put my hands right on it--it's bigger than I remembered it as well-- big AND ugly!! My paper template is a bit crumpled-- I'm sure if I put some heavy books on it and stuck it under my bed for two years, it would straighten out. 

    Haha! See what I did there? A two-year reprieve. No, I'm soldiering on. So I flatten the template cut it out, ignore the fact that it's a little too big and draw an oval on my piece. Galileo, the champion of ellipses, isn't exactly going to be looking at this with his microscope is he? I basted a line on, 1/8" of an inch inside my drawing to stabilize the edge. Then snip, snip! I have some interestingly shaped excess pieces-- thank God they are too small for mug rugs, so I ditch them.

So here it is-- it took me months to do what really only took an hour. 

12:00pm That took a lot out of me-- it's lunch! And forget the yogurt and fruit I was gonna have-- it's roast beef sandwich time! All during my time off, I consider the fate of this unloved table runner--- could I just cut it into placemats? Just make it smaller? Cut out just the flower blocks and reformat it to something else? No conclusions are reached.

Lunch is going long,  and I turn on the news as I do, once in while, when I can face it. It is sometimes a mistake...

You know you're in trouble when the reporter in Israel is talking about Maine. If you didn't know, San Francisco Stitch Co. is now based in Maine-- mostly because of many job moves, and Mr. SFOs retirement dream. Yes, it was to set the clock back 50 years and live a simpler life. Not this. 

We are all gratefully safe. Sewing is usually such a balm for me-- occasionally, there arises a time when I. JUST. CAN'T. Twelve hours in October is over.

I did get back to my machine later in the week-- once again, I went off the list. I finished up my 64 basket blocks, and even started assembling the units of four... they look pretty.

Then I got my extra junior jelly roll in the mail for the Sew Sampler September box, remember it?

     The artist in residence helped me pick out new jelly strip pairs for additional blocks. In a moment of small joy, she said, "This is really fun!" and it made sense to her why I do love to sew as much. I'm making 8 more blocks to get a decent sized throw for a very special couple, newly married this Christmas.

I also dabbled away and got the November Bowl Fillers done.

My FFOctober list doesn't mean much to me at the moment. Here I am... feeling crushed and helpless. Some moments I can sew, and some I can't. Taking care of my small world becomes more important to me at times like this-- it is all we can do. Yes, the family will be getting some beautiful dinners this week. Push forward everyone-- we can't go back.

xox

Carol