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

Merry Christmas!

     It is Christmas Eve morning-- I have my fabulous and cute customer thank you email all designed and scheduled-- the Chris-Mystery Ornament #4 is done-- just a little customer service and my job responsibilities are ended. But I really wanted to reach out to my blog friends with a little longer end-of-the year greeting-- love you guys!

     The Chris-Mystery series of four ornaments is complete! The annual stitch-a-long this month was definitely an afterthought this year. I was almost going to skip it, until a few people asked. I can’t do an all FREE stitch along anymore- yes, they create more customers as you would think-- they are a giant following of FREE people! And don't get me wrong-- that's fine, except when you have to pay bills. Shout out to a select few non-customers who were willing to do the unthinkable and pay $1.99 for the Christmas-Mystery this year! You are AWESOME!

     We had a bit of glitch as you may have seen-- we lost power for three days last week! (we are fine). A tremendous rain storm came up the coast. So it rained on top of the snow we already had- everything melted and ran off the mountains in one big whoosh. 

    When you picture Maine, picture those rocky rivers with men in waders fly fishing, water bubbling happily away. I wish I had been able to capture the pure, evil rage they turned into-- a ghastly olive colored water reaching for the sky, and spraying and spilling over the banks. We foolishly tried to go to the post office the next day. We witnessed flooded farm fields, roads undercut by the water and caved in, missing decks from houses, and cars full of pine needles swept and left in the middle of the road. It was apocalyptic to be sure. We had to turn back.

    I remember in California when there were mud slides--- the news people would always say, “This is in an area of million dollar homes,” to emphasize how tragic the situation was. But I’m sure those million dollar home owners had plenty of resources to help them. How much more tragic it was to see people who have very little to begin with then lose everything. 

     It really reset my flagging Christmas spirit to see everyone come together. It hasn't been a great year personally-- things happened that shouldn't have happened, and things that should have happened, didn't. The unthinkable even happened. This sign has become a bit of a running joke in this establishment-- at least we can still laugh.

It will just be four of us this year with a small meal-- I’m grateful.

    And now for the sewing news-- the sew jo has returned, but the time has evaporated. Never fear-- the week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorites.  December 26th through Jan 1st-- all is finally calm and bright. All the stress of gift giving and meal making is over and everyone is on vacation. I'm really hoping to get a little down time, a little of sewing time, and at most just come up with a general direction for next year's designs.

    

    My goals for the past year were monthly and seemed to revolve around the Sew Sampler box subscriptions-- I think I crushed it, although there’s still plenty to finish up! This worked well for me-- I still don’t have a dedicated office and most of my unfinished work is still in boxes, patiently waiting-- it was perfectly acceptable to buy new fabric and start new projects. So here's what I have done in the past couple of weeks:

   I was hoping to have my Alfresco quilt done the first half of December, and the Christmas “Jolly Box” done the second half-- not even close, but I did make progress. Maybe one of the animals on Tula Pink’s Besties fabric should have been a sloth. The four large stars are done. I had a little unforced error, as we say in the quilting big leagues, that I’m making work for me-- do you see it? In my defense, it was incredibly hard to cut a cute animal face in half-- I cringed every time-- this may be why people who don't like Tula Pink fabrics don't like her fabrics.

     For the Jolly box, I have seen pictures on Facebook of the candy quilt finished with the provided pattern-- it is cute, but I am offended by the candy canes without stripes on them. 

     And the prints are all large scale-- so I thought one of those quilts made of gift boxes would be perfect for the fabrics. I have all my fabric prewashed and an unintelligible sketch. 

     I also balked at the navy blue background and came to the conclusion that the dreaded PINK is the perfect color for the fabric. I made the pink less objectionable by choosing a grunge-- I'm still not quite succeeding at liking the color.  I do have a really deserving friend who loves pink-- the idea of gifting it to her next year really makes me smile. Hoping to dig into it next week. I might go to an open sewing class at my LQS for dedicate time? Maybe 2024 is high time to get out there and show myself.

    The last box of the challenge has been revealed and is on it’s way-- The December box. So the way they work is that they come really late in the month, I’m giving myself till January 31st to finish all the 2023 boxes. The fabric line for December is okay, (yay! more pink!)  and the pattern is fine, so I’m doing something really different this time and making it the way it’s supposed to be! I even ordered the finishing kit from Fat Quarter Shop -- should be fun to not have to think (read: overthink) for a change. Fat Quarter Shop photo again:

   The box this month is CHOCK full of good stuff-- a ruler, a generous amount of fabric, notions-- I was thinking of stopping my membership next year. I don’t really intend to continue making something from every box next year. I'd rather pick things myself. But I think I will just continue on at least until April. I’m only going to make the ones which have fabric I really love-- the rest, I am going to quickly sell on the Sew Sampler Swap page instead of filling shelves. Don’t want those teal boxes collecting again! I am in the middle of the BOM, which ends in April-- and I've kept up! 

     In a weak moment, I also signed up for the Fig Tree Quilts quarterly box-- they’re more expensive, but Joanna Figueroa is popular, so if I don’t get something I love, I’m going to just list it on eBay. I do enjoy a subscription box.

    Did you see my funny meme on the San Francisco Stitch Co, page? I took my own advice-- twice! I bought the Kona calendar and the super expensive set of 12 charm packs to go with it from Fat Quarter Shop (their photo). The calendars are sold out-- you have to Google them at this point. 

    Then, I also had my eye on this cutest ever Tilda Christmas quilt for months. Would you believe the pattern is free-- but she can do that, because her fabrics are so cute, so it's hard to imagine this quilt made from my stale stash. 

    When in the world will I ever have time to make all these things? In 2024 I’m trying for one finished quilting a quarter-- just have to figure out which ones. I'm toying with the idea of finishing two, allowing myself to buy one. But I really need to stop adding to my quilt kit collection. Someone is going to have a field day at my estate sale in a future year.

    My silly Christmas crafts came along-- again, one of the designs should have been a sloth! I started with the heart ornament, and this is about three hours in:

    If that seems like a waste of time, consider that I also completed one and a half Hallmark Christmas movies while stitching it.

    My folded star garland is just about there-- I'm planning to have it at the absolute last minute. Think of me at precisely 11:59 tonight-- I will be standing on a chair in the kitchen hanging it. I just have to string these beads:

     You should have seen me trying to thread the bakery string through the beads-- but by the time I finished the last one, I could do everything perfectly. I never got back to my hot pads-- next year!

     So that's how everything stands at the end of 2023. Charles Dickens, for the Christmas win: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way." 

     Wishing you a Merry Little Christmas,
whatever your circumstance is this year.

xox

Carol

Twelve Little Joys this Christmas...

  Well the sew-jo has returned, but the time has evaporated! Sound familiar? Instead of showing projects this week, I want to share a few of my favorite things I'm enjoying this Christmas-- maybe they will bring you a smile, too! In full disclosure, I receive NO commission from  this blog, and some of the "simple joys" might be hard to resist and also EXPENSIVE-- particularly the set of twelve chickens. You are forewarned. Let's go!

     1. See's Candy So this is a thing I discovered during my time in San Francisco-- when you think of San Franciscan chocolate, does Ghirardelli come to mind? Heavens, no. Grandma Sees has the best of chocolate of them all--I discovered her in a mall shop near my home in Dublin, CA when we lived there. They would actually give anyone who set foot in the store a "free" chocolate-- boy, did I ever get sucked in. Those free candies have cost me quite a bit over the last 20 years! Thank goodness for mail order-- my beautiful sister sent me a box as my gift, this year. I promptly turned it over to my DD, with the instructions to just give me one a day, a role she seems to really enjoy. Added bonus: They always have such nice tins for the holidays-- what sewist could resist a tin?

     2. Silly Christmas Crafts. One of the great loves of my life-- craft projects of any type. Ahh, the joy of assembling any little thing with instructions not written by me. Many of you will recognize the name Herrschners-- I so enjoyed getting their catalogs back in the day before the internet, and they came to mind a couple of years ago and I was delighted to find they were still around with a website. They've got it all-- felt, yarn, paint, pony beads. This year, I snagged these cute felt ornaments, and I can't get my mind off the Perler bead Christmas craft set that's currently on sale. So enjoyable to just zone out and let your hands do the work. I also got the cute set of plaster ornaments at Michaels for $4.99. All will be ready for Christmas 2024, I swear!

     3. Chickens. I say this with absolutely no pride and only the facts-- if the bottom drops out of machine embroidery, I am hitting it out of the park as a egg farmer. Every morning, my precious sweeties get oatmeal-- every afternoon a bowl of grapes. It is delightful to see how fast they can peck up those grapes-- making even my highest rate of consuming Sees candy seem dang respectable.  The rooster is such a gentleman-- he's the handsome guy in the back there--he lets the hens eat first. He steps up to the tray, looks to the right, looks to the left, then slowly chooses a grape and steps back. In an instant, a greedy hen will peck it right out of his mouth. Eventually he will step forward again, look left and right, choose a grape, only to lose it again. By the time this process is repeated three times, the grapes are gone. I love him, and I could watch this every day for years.

     4. The Jingle Ball. So this was a thing I saw advertised on Instagram last year, and I made a mental note to do it this year. It's a virtual cross stitch convention, happening the first weekend in December. For a $10 ticket, you get free cross stitch designs from twelve designers, the chance to work at Zoom tables with various groups of people-- "New England Stitchers," "Antique Sampler Stitchers" and what not. Or there's a "speed dating" area, where for five minutes you randomly stitch with a random person, then switch again. There's a shopping area, and a main ballroom with entertainment. So, I didn't really have time to enjoy it for hours like others were doing, but I fantasized that I was still living in my first Brooklyn apartment, never married, and stayed at my same job for 30 years. And I had all weekend to sit around in my jammies and virtual party at this thing with no responsibility. It was a beautiful dream, but like George in "It's a Wonderful Life," I did end up wanting to get back to my real life. So this event is over now, but I'd definitely do it again, just for the shopping and the spectacle of it.

     5. Folded star ornaments. How long have we seen these batting around the internet? I finally did make some of these this year, and I really enjoyed it. Now you can always count on me to tell the truth about things-- so I have to dispute the folklore that this would be a fun family activity. First of all, one star uses a heck of a lot of fabric! Four 4" x 14" pieces-- that's the better part of a fat quarter! So with the price of fabric these days, you're not gonna make a killing at a craft fair. Second thing, ironing is involved- a lot of ironing. And the final nail-- it really takes a good deal of concentration to figure out how to do it- and then, do it neatly. So that rules out the kids and just about everyone else in the house--except for the person who is good at wrapping. Do it with that person if you must have a group activity. I made twelve stars (oops! thirteen... there I go, overachieving again!) over the course of about a week-- I ordered big wooden beads to string together and make a garland. I'm pretty well set to have this for this year-- I'll be sure to take a picture! 

     6. Jazzy Café. So this is a channel on You Tube, and boy, if you think Kimberly Jolly is killing it with monetization on her hour and half shows, she's got a lot to learn. Jazzy Café is beautifully digitized virtual environments-- choose your cozy corner-- snow is falling, people are walking by on the streets, there's always a roaring fireplace and comfy seating-- all in an endless loop. And jazzy music-- Christmas music, or not. So this is what I put on and just let it roll for hour upon hour, pretending I am working in some beautiful place. Highly addicting, super relaxing, and I'm sure a big money maker for the genius who creates it. Jazzy Cafe is really the only thing I can watch/listen to while sewing without frequent need of a seam ripper. Highly recommend.

     7. Snapfish. Back in the day, when the kids were growing up, I was an avid scrapbooker-- it makes me smile, but some of the fabric designers like Basic Grey and Echo Park got their start with paper. This is before everyone just kept their photos on their phone. So at some point, when the coast to coast moving started, probably around 2008, the scrapbooking pretty much stopped. My whole family just loves pictures and nostalgia-- so this year, I uploaded all my photos from a past Christmas and in an afternoon, created an entire 20 page scrapbook on Snapfish. Their interface is super easy to use-- in fact, it will just add all your photos to the book for you, and then you just add text and cute graphics. My 8x8 book was $32-- it's a surprise for Mr. SFO. It was just really pleasant to go back a few years and make this thing-- I'm thinking next year, I may do a bigger projects starting with 2008? Like the quilts, the scrapbooks are waiting to get finished and I still believe they will! On the plus side, I always kept my photos super organized on my computer, and while all my scrapbook supplies are still boxed up after the move, Snapfish could fill a nice niche for me with something I really used to enjoy.

     8. Kona Calendar. Now a half hour jog is fine for some, but new quilt projects to make is a bigger endorphin producer for most of us! I saw this Kona calendar quilt for next year-- it is made of a different color of their solid fabrics every month and it is STARS. Fat Quarter Shop is selling charm packs for each month-- it's a bit pricey, but I'm hugely tempted. So what that I still have the Barn Star, the Dessert quilt, and the Cookie Tin star quilts to make. What do you think? I could always just get the calendar and see what happens...

     9. Dunkin Donuts. I guess I'm a simpleton at heart-- but yes, I run on Dunkin, and they're paper hot cups this year are really tickling me, In fact, I have saved them to reuse at home. And the vanilla creme filled donut has been my lifelong love, in case you wondered.  Thankfully, even though there are fewer street corners in Maine, there's still a Dunkin on every one of them.

    

    

10. When Christmas decorating happens by itself. So Christmas is a bit of a shell game here-- who will be the first to suggest we get a tree? We have actually gone up till Christmas Eve without one in past years! To redeem myself, I do like to leave it up well into January-- it gets me though the hard part of winter. Thankfully the DD and DSIL took responsibility this year-- cut, set up, lights, and decorating all! To redeem myself again, let's just remember Mr. SFO usually takes little interest beyond the chain saw part. So while the kids were out of the house, I did this by myself for many years. Trust me folks-- this was better. 

 11. Home Goods Store. If you are in a situation where you just don't want to decorate-- I'm at an age where I perfectly understand! Just go to your local Home Goods store and take pictures-- ours was amazing-- groaning with every style of décor in every department-- food, kitchen, linens. Of course, if other people are willing to decorate, I'm willing to finance-- look at this beautiful boy I snagged for $40! I'm in love.

   12. Winter Joys. Here we are in the Western Mountains of Maine, proof that life takes some surprising turns. Historically, I'm not a huge fan of winter-- but when I married Mr. SFO, I knew he was a mountain man, and he promised me a Florida vacation every winter. So every day, I bundle into my long down coat, and go outside. I walk up to the mailbox, looking through the birch to the blue sky. I take in the Bigelow Mountains at the top of the driveway and check for happy mail. Then, I stop at the coop to look for eggs. Next, it's downhill to our sweet cabin-- almost completely renovated with the hope of plenty of company! And down through the deep forest to the lake, which each day has a different mood. Here, I stop to think how quiet it is in this place of White Christmases and a thousand more simple joys.

xox

Carol