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MY BLOG HAS MOVED!

    I am moving my blog over to WordPress-- I sure hope you make the jump with me! 

    For a long time, I've been dissatisfied with "Blogger." Did you notice how sometimes the typeface got larger for no reason-- no, I was not yelling at you-- and how every week seemed to be in a different font? They also stopped offering subscriptions-- what, if anything, is the first feature you would think of, if you wanted a Blog? So then, we were stuck with the outside subscriber app, "Bloglovin," which frankly isn't that lovable on my end for more than a few reasons. (You may now CANCEL you Bloglovin subscription, even though you really don't have to, since I won't be posting here, so you won't get any notices!)

    So hop on over to one-stitch-at-a-time.com and excuse it's appearance for a couple of weeks while we all figure it out... together! Don't worry about losing me-- I would never let that happen--you can always come back here and click the link below. 

Ready, set... JUMP!

one-stitch-at-a-time.com

No tomato left behind...

     Here I am, almost missing another week of blog, but truth be told, my last minute outdoor projects have sucked up a lot of time with not a lot of sewing happening. I think yesterday was our last day of summer... we had temperatures in the 80s for quite a few days, but this morning it is blissfully cool-- I needed a jacket to go out and feed my chickens. I am starting to really look forward to snugging in for long winter's sew.

    There's always something to talk about, and this is what I have accomplished in the past ten days:

         The Moda Love Layer Cake quilt is finished. It doesn't look finished here, but photography has also gone by the wayside! I cannot recommend this pattern enough-- it is FREE-- and it is just one HUGE quilt block-- the same amount of sewing you would do for a 12" block. The HSTs are HUGE-- I have had the thought that you could take any of your basic HST block patterns and make them HUGE with these 10" layers cakes and come up with a quick quilt. I noticed in Lori Holt's upcoming book, she has some HUGE churn dash block quilts and HUGE Ohio Star blocks. They are super modern looking. Consider HUGENESS for new, quick project. Just pick a favorite quilt block.

     The Moda Love quilt is for a wedding at the end of October-- I'm hoping to load it to the longarm tonight. If you are fond of Apps on your iPad-- get Procreate for $9.99-- you can take a picture of your quilt and audition quilting ideas right over it, if you have the Apple Pen! I want to do something quick for this-- I'm practicing drawing leaves and flowers in triangle shapes. (This couple loves nature.) I can't wait to do it-- I am just in love with my beautiful Innova right now.

        I also took pictures of my sixteen, beautiful patriotic basket blocks and cut them out so I could just lay them out on my cutting mat and arrange them. These blocks are HUGE-- (a theme here, lately) at 16" finished. It's based on the Summer Memories quilt by Susan Ache, except bigger. heehee. Way too big to lay out on a design wall if I even had one. So this is the layout and I really want to finish this up.  It's too HUGE for my long arm, 100" x 100," but could I do it in two pieces and then sew them together, like a giant quilt as you go? Or just send it to my longarm person and do allover flowers for the win. I clearly need to sew it together before any of those things can happen.

   Then I pulled out my Dungeness Crab piece. I made this embroidery design, seriously years ago, when we were in San Fran and loved it so much, I designed a small quilt. I checked, and I have blogged about finishing it more than once! So I'd love to have a large and small quilt in next year's Maine Quilt Show and I'd love to wrap this up and have it be the small entry. I left extensive notes on what I wanted to do, yay!, including sewing tiny little seed beads in for some sand texture. And the fabrics are all still together. Is this the year?  I hope so.

    In farm news, the DD and I have canned more that 100 jars of stuff from the garden. We are novice gardeners-- the whole thing got totally out of control and there are tomatoes of all kinds, everywhere. My father--in-law, the Civil War buff, used to call the ones that just sprouted up from year's past "volunteers." Well, we could have put together an entire army based on all the varieties that raised their hands. DD thinks we have to use every one of them, as in "no tomato left behind," but this is what we get about every third day:

   Can you hear "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" ringing in your ears? We had a big argument over which would be faster: whether to continue making sauce, or just throw them in the jars whole. I won, and into the jars they went. We can make sauce out of them this winter. The hot spell has been of no help in slowing things down and the battle rages on.

    Next up--apple picking. Fun, but I now have a peck of apples to deal with!

   And my day job:

    Again, this photo is old, but a little final sanding and we are all set to stain both this deck and the cabin. I'll show you finished photos in about a week. Have you ever noticed that PREP is 95% of restoring any given thing? It's been a long haul.

   Finally, I have a fabulous fall table runner in the works. It has come to my attention that these in-the-hoop projects are super popular, but my question is, do they have to be cute? Do they have to say, "Happy Fall, Ya'll? We will find out, when this releases next week!

     So that's all I got-- wow, after a day of stripping paint, I am sleeping well. I sure won't be volunteering, like my tomatoes, for any more end of summer jobs after this.

Have a HUGELY amazing weekend!

xox

Carol

Yes, WE can!

      I have been busy, busy, busy and almost forgot my weekly blog post-- unfortunately, there's not a lot of sewing or digitizing going on. It's the time of year when those outdoor painting projects need to get finished up-- especially since they haven't even been started yet! For the past two years, I felt that my natural habitat has been in front of a sewing machine or computer screen, but this past week, it has been on a ladder!

     On the plus side-- I am still BUYING things, so we can always have a chat about that! I discovered, in my new closet, if I push back the plastic bins of fabric, I can fit another row of fat quarters in front. Also, there's a certain amount of square inches on top of the bins that is not fully utilized yet, that I bet I can fill, as you can see below!

      First up, the New England Shop Hop has begun! The shop hop  is a concept that has now fully involved into a giant nationwide machine called "Shop Hop, Inc.," complete with celebratory fabrics, magazines, and major awards. So you would have to be nuts to actually drive New England for days, stay at hotels, buy something at each shop (because you HAVE to if you go in, right?) collect all your stamps and be eligible for a drawing for a grand prize. I bet you could just BUY the grand prize, with all the money you spent hopping! But here in the USA, we're a competitive bunch, so I have no doubt multiple people will accomplish the goal.

    I'm happy with just supporting my local shop, so I sallied forth, and had to BUY something, of course, which isn't really a chore. This is what I got:

    It's a great little I Love Maine wall hanging with a set of extremely meaningful jelly roll strips with all the Maine things-- Lobster buoys, chickadees, blueberries, etc., etc. This would be great in my new studio-- or there's endless gifting opportunities for new Maine friends-- or family you are trying to get to move here.

    I also snagged this panel. If you've been paying attention, one of the fabric companies is going through all 50 states over the past few years. I've picked up ones that have people I know living in them, but so far, none of them has made it to my longarm! Couldn't you see it with a pretty blue and white flying geese border?

    I tried to familiarize myself with all of the things on the panel since I now live here and I don't want to go around like an ignorant fool. So there's blueberries, a chickadee, and a pine cone-- those are the easy ones. The blue ox has me puzzled-- is it BABE the blue ox with Paul Bunyan? I didn't know he was from Maine.

     Then here's the famous light house-- I should learn it's name-- a boot for L.L. Bean, I bet, the loons, and, of course, the Whoopie Pie. One of the first things I learn about an area new to me is it's associated food. Teehee.

    Finally there's the moose, the lupines, but I confess myself stumped about those three brown, hairy, ombre beans under the moose. Does anyone have any insights for me? Potatoes are from Idaho. Maybe I'll ask a neighbor.

     I didn't find the Shop Hop "official" fabrics there yet- I'm still on the lookout for those and I would definitely like to OWN them to add to my collection-- I have last year's somewhere in those plastic bins.

 Then, in internet shopping, I also succumbed to the FLOWER CART!

    So, for someone who initially was not impressed with this designer's first collection (too pastel), I am in deep! It is Heather Briggs from My Sew Quilty Life-- the fabric collection is "Flower Girl." First, I received some in a Sew Sampler Box and I made this:

    The Flower Cart is just too cute-- I'm still not best friends with pink or pastels, but there's someone in my extended family who would flip over this. I have to say, Heather Briggs put a fantastic package together. Each month, you not only get the pattern, but she printed up a chart to check off progress, little alphabet squares to label your pieces, and a give away each month. It's already well into the sew along, so I may just save it for the winter and do it all at once. I got this kit from Bella Rose fabrics on line-- it's almost sold out everywhere else.

    Then, my last purchase for the week-- as if this weren't enough-- I also succumbed to the Hey Boo fat quarters. One of my online friends just kept putting it before my eyes!

    I'm sure it's going to be gone soon-- I had to search on Etsy. So I still want to buy the matching fabric panel which I am going to do next before it's too late. All this cuteness and all this pink-- my goodness! More stuff!

     I did somewhat finance these purchases with selling off some of my older kits. If there's one thing that galls me more than leaving a bunch of UFOs for my kids, it's having them sitting on a gold mine of fabric that they don't understand the value of! I divested myself of some 2020-2021 Halloween boxes and like fine wine, they did increase in value. Of course, I then signed up for the 2024 "Spooky Box" from Fat Quarter Shop, so let's hope it was a good trade. This area of my closet has thinned out a tad, even though it doesn't look like it. The closet is going to have sliding barn doors over the winter, so all this work waiting to be finished won't be in my face as much.

     In the very little time I did sit before a computer screen, I designed a fall quilted in the hoop table runner. I'm just going to use the leaves from the new fall wreath-- they came out so pretty and deserve it. Are you into it?

And the Village of the Month is an apple farm!

    In the finished column-- it's "Star of Wonder," off the longarm! Since I have, at most, one hour a night to sew, I decided to pick just one thing and finish it up. I am so pleased with the way it came out. This is my second longarm finish since getting it set back up in the new space.

     I don't like to practice, so I just went for it. Now, don't get intimidated, because if you look up close there is much to be desired. I drew every feather in with a blue marking pen and badly, badly sewed over it-- it doesn't bear close inspection. But I left it on the floor in the guest bedroom, flat as a pancake if you notice,  and Mr. SFO said-- "What is that?" I hesitated to answer-- like, obviously, IT IS A QUILT! Then, since I didn't say anything, he continued-- "That is really beautiful, sweetheart!" 

   

 xox

   That amounts to an extreme, ultimate compliment from Mr. SFO. He always gives a totally honest critique of whatever I'm working on, which is what any artist really needs. Just remember-- if I can do it, you can, too, so consider dropping those feed dogs and just try!

    I started thinking very positively this week-- and I just want to leave you with a thought-- nothing is impossible. We can do it! Finish all the UFOs, get those bindings on, start new stuff-- you bet! Just stop thinking about it, and DO IT! 

     And now that it's about time I got back up on that ladder-- here's a final picture. We really wanted to clean up our cabin siding since moving in two years ago. A lot of elbow grease, right? We've been thinking about it all this time and finally made up our minds to do it. Just take a look-- if you would have told me that we would get 30 year old siding back to looking brand new, I never would have believed it! Just look at the difference between the top and bottom.

    In just one day, two sides are done already.

Yes, we can!

xox
Carol

Laboring away for Labor Day!

      The summer always ends with my birthday-- appropriate since I love this time of year, when my two favorite seasons blend together. We've been having crisp, foggy mornings, then blazing hot afternoons with the bluest of skies, followed by incredibly clear nights with all the stars out over the meadow.

     For my birthday, I got this-- exactly what I wanted!

     Yes-- the entire family brought ALL of the remaining boxes out of the attic, and my DD helped me empty them, all day. There is something to be said for dibble-dabbling away at a project, but at some point, you really need to just git 'er done. So there's still a lot of putting away to do-- good news, if I move all my books downstairs, we are mostly fitting. And this is just putting stuff away right now-- at some point, I want to do the UBER-SORT-- where all the like things are together in their most logical spot. I'll dibble dabble away at that over the winter!

     Instead of a cake, I asked for birthday ice cream lunch. We drove just down the road to our nearest ice cream stand. They love ice cream in Maine-- GIFFORD's is the brand-- it's always nearby, however remote you may be. My thing is the Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard. It only comes in one size-- gigantic-- so there's no guilt in ordering.

     I uncovered some really fun attic treasures you will get a laugh at-- here are my three oldest UFOs. It's like visiting with the me of 20 years ago. xox.

     First up, my Craftsy Block-of-the-Month from 2013. Many of you remember Craftsy-- the craft video site that offered classes of all types of sewing, baking, knitting, and everything else content that would be OURS TO KEEP AND VIEW FOREVER!! heehee. Well, there's a sucker born every minute, and I was one of them-- they went bust after a very short time. I think YouTube did them in. Somewhere, our paid for content is still out there, but not without signing up again and giving a credit card. No, thanks. Anyway, every year for a couple of years, they did a block of the month for free-- I SO looked forward to this one each month-- I even finished it!

    This was well before I had a fabric stash of any sort to speak of, and I bought a set of Kaffe Fassett fat quarters for next to nothing, on clearance from Fat Quarter Shop, of course, not really knowing what it was. How I enjoyed picking and cutting the fabric for each block every month! They also had a forum where you could post your project and it was wonderful to see what everyone was doing. I bet I have my progress shots on my hard drive somewhere. Yup-- here is one of them!

     This is the kookiest, craziest quilt I have ever made. It's quite the mix! My current day perception is, that yes, it's busy, but sew fun to look at. I think I need more of this wild spirit in me, again.

Around this time, I became enamored of free-motion quilting on a sit-down-- yup, Craftsy was full of content for that, too. So I got about half way through the quilting-- I was doing an aces's job-- I even see some specialty stitches from my sewing machine in there.

     It's now in my "TO BE QUILTED" box, and I'd love to finish it up soon. I could make short work of it on the longarm. I doubt I currently have BLACK quilting thread, though!

    Now, we're even further back in time, twenty years earlier-- this UFO from the early 90s. I saw the "Cardinal Feathered Star" quilt made up in my local quilt shop. The pattern came with two designs-- when I saw the "other" one, I was even more in love!

    "Country Threads Christmas" was for me. I got this far-- probably stopped dead in  my tracks when I realized I had to applique! I also had a big question in my mind-- why the heck did they have you piece these tiny 3" blocks only to cover most of 'em up! 

    When I look at it, I just want to hug myself. No OCD on star points, whatsoever.

    I loved it so much, I decided I wanted it for an all year wall hanging. So I drafted up some bluebirds on a peach tree instead of the Christmas tree. I ran across a big printout of this a couple of weeks during my unpacking, as well as a bluebird novelty print I bought, so many years ago, for the backing.  I'd love to finish it-- my applique skills are killer now, and hand quilt it. Look like it's gonna be a busy winter! 

    This piece makes me realize how fun it was to pick fabrics at random-- instead of using "collections" as a crutch all the time. It looks very original. So I've also made progress committing to selling off many of my kits-- with whatever time God grants me, I'd like to finish a few of the more meaningful pieces. This is one of them.

     And I saved the best for last! Now we are back to about the 1980s. I was working my NYC graphic design job and getting back to sewing after getting through college. I always liked the artist Escher-- he made these tessellating patterns that fascinated me. I'm sure you'll know in an instant to whom I refer.

That piece is called, "Day and Night." It's one of my favorites. Oh, yes, and "Three Worlds." 

   I decided to try my own tessellation-- I drew FISH going back and forth, and I did it!-- yes, these fish, in theory, would match right up to each other! This is the first these fish have been free of their plastic box in many years-- I have 28 of them.

    I picked the craziest fabrics I could find at Jo-Ann Fabrics at the time-- there were no fat quarter bundles, then, just a lot of dress fabrics. Out of each fabric, I made one left and one right facing fish. Then I made scallops for the scales and top stitched them down to muslin-- the eyes just make me laugh. Karen Kay Buckley perfect circles or Applipops weren't invented yet!

    You bet I would like to finish this, too-- what might happen to it when I'm gone? Who would ever, ever have the ambition or knowledge of how this was supposed to go together? And, I'd love to finally discover after these 37 years-- do those fish really fit together?

    Now back to the present-- I actually have had a couple of finishes. Occasionally, I decide to do some good in the world beyond drawing up crazy interlocking fish-- I finished up two baby quilts.

    And then I started a wedding gift. This is the "Moda Love" pattern-- it's free-- have you seen it?

    Basically, it's a Carpenter's Star, but the cool idea is that you can make it  with a layer cake, charm squares, or even mini charm squares. I'm going with the largest size and it should make a nice big quilt-- it says 72" x 72." I'm using the partial layer cake that came with the Sew Sampler box this month, but I'm having to add some. You only get 1/2 a layer cake with the boxes.

 

 Pretty, huh?

    So that's what I'm up to this weekend-- a little putting things away, a little sewing, a little outside time-- the weather is amazing. The official sewing season is about to begin, and it's a great time of year to reconnect with your old self and make plans for creating this fall. Hope you can follow along, and we'll do it together!

xox

Carol

Star of Wonder Finishes

     Today, we're going to do something unusual for this sewing blog and talk about sewing! First up, is the promised finishing instructions for my Star of Wonder cross stitch pillow. There's lots of tips for sewing with cross stitch. Then, I'm going to show you the Star of Wonder quilt, now on the longarm, and hopefully inspire you to some of your own finishes! 

      I got the Star of Wonder cross stitch pillow done in about two hours start to finish! This is a great way to finish any pillow, and it makes a nice, useful item if you have enough framed cross stitches filling your walls.

     First, decide on a pillow form size. A pillow form is the best purchase you can make for a neat finish-- do not be tempted to stuff your own! They are not expensive-- think Michael's 40% off coupon. The actual covering we are making is removable, so you can just change out your pillow form with the season. (It makes the covers so easy to store flat, as well.) The rule of thumb is-- make your project 2" smaller than the pillow form for a nicely stuffed piece. I just went 1" smaller all around, since this is a smaller size. My pillow form was 12." They only come in certain sizes, so check first!

     I pulled fabrics to match the cross stitch-- for once, my dusty old stash did not disappoint. If you ordered the quilt kit, there is plenty of fabric left over to make your pillow. Fat Quarter Shop is always so generous with their fabric kits. If you want to make yours exactly like mine, the measurements are below. 

     Note that when cutting a cross stitch piece-- make sure you cut along a row of holes on each side, even if your piece isn't perfectly square. (Frequently, cross stitch is NOT square, since your stitches are all on the diagonal.) Give the piece a little tug and a light press to encourage it back to squareness and remember, this is a pillow, so it need not be perfect. 

     If your piece is seriously out of square, you're probably pulling your crosses too tight-- loosen up on the next one! But all is not lost-- give it a little spray of water, mark a perfect square on a piece of cardboard or foam core board. Then pin it square and let it dry-- i.e.- BLOCK IT!

    These are the fabric measurements to cut:

A)  7-1/2" x 7-1/2"

B)  1-1/2" x  11-1/2"

C)  1-1/2 x 10-1/2"

D)  3-1/2" x 7-1/2"

E)  3-1/2" x 7-1/2"

F)  3-1/2" x 3-1/2"

   For my creative friends, here is how to measure to make your own pillow out of any cross stitch finish. Grab a piece of graph paper and think of each square as 1/2"-- finished size! Mark out the boundaries of your pillow form size, minus 1-2 inches for a full pillow, as we discussed. Then, measure your cross stitch piece for its finished size.  Basically, use the graph paper to draw finished sizes of your pieces-- then, when you have your layout and fabrics, just add 1/2" to each dimension for cutting sizes. 

     On the graph paper, first draw in your cross stitch. You can center it with four borders, which is the most obvious way, but I wanted a more progressive look and put mine in the corner. Then just sketch in the borders in the order you will piece them. Look for opportunities to add a tiny quilt block or a novelty print border. My square "F" would have been the perfect place for a fussy cut or tiny pieced star.

     Now, were going to sew using 1/4" seams. The order is, A to E, then D to F. Attach A/E to D/F. Then add C and finally B. When you sew, sew with the cross stitch piece on TOP. Pick a line of holes in your Aida or a thread in your linen and stitch along it as shown. Always press away from cross stitch, or outward from the pillow center. No open seams in pillows, please. At least not in my house, where it will be abused!

Look how perfect that came out!

     If you really want to up your piecing game, I also cut my fabrics along straight lines-- see how my dot print is squared up? That being said, if this type of precision ruins sewing for you, don't do it. There's plenty to be said for scrapping piecing, too.

xox

     That went together fast!

    Now we need a backing. Our backing is made of two overlapping pieces. The pieces are folded in half, for strength. 

     To make it, cut two pieces 16-1/2" x 11-1/2." Fold them in half, starch, and iron. Each piece now has a nice folded edge for a finish. I top stitched 1/4" away from the folded edge from side to side, just for a little extra strength.

    If you're making your own pillow, the formula I use is 2/3 of the height of the pillow for each piece. Then you need to double it to fold it in half. 

    Now, it's final assembly-- we're not turning this pillow inside out-- we're going to bind it, just like a quilt. So wrong sides are together!

     First, lay your beautiful pillow front face down. Lay one of the backing pieces on top. The folded edge is at the top in this photo.

     Now layer the other backing piece on top of that-- the folded edge is at the bottom of this photo now. Pin all the pieces together and baste all the way around at the 1/8" seam line. Remove the pins.

    Cut yourself a 2-1/4" strip of fabric and bind as you would a quilt! I stitched mine by hand at the back-- I actually have a YouTube tutorial with 10,000 views for machine binding. Obviously, it's a skill we all want to speed up the process!

Machine Binding Video

     It's forty minutes, but will save you time in the long run. Practice on little mug rugs!

    So that's it! I have more finished cross stitches that need FFOing-- making myself sit down and do this instead of always thinking about it proved it doesn't have to take long.

     Now for a quick look at my Star of Wonder quilt-- it is on the longarm. If you are a frequent reader, you'll know this thing was a royal pain to get together. Not the Fat Quarter Shop's fault, it's my fault. Since it tortured me, I am now going to repay that favor on the longarm!

     My poor longarm sat unassembled for almost two years while I patiently waited for my over the garage studio. I have now vowed I will use it EVERY DAY, even if it's for just a half hour! Since I don't like to practice, my Sew Sampler box finishes over the last months will serve that function!

    

   

  I have been obsessively watching YouTube videos, primarily of Angela Walters and Natalia Bonner, who have freely shared their expertise-- they are both quite good. Beyond that, I'm using the "think method."

    

    My strong feeling is, practice will never equal working on a real piece. For one thing, when you practice you tend to just quilt all over the place. A real piece has shapes to fill!

    Also, I need to get over my fear of "ruining" something. Artists need to be free! When something becomes too "precious" you can no longer make risky decisions that are the essence of growing in your art. 

 

    What better way to get over the fear of "ruining" my quilts, than to actually ruin them?

    You can see I'm not opposed to drawing the whole thing in, but staying on the line is another issue. But when I step back from this-- it actually looks great!

   To encourage you, there's always a few uncomfortable seconds when you start the longarm up before you get it "rolling" where bad things can happen-- since quilters love to show their mistakes, if you look closely, it's far from perfect. No picking out is allowed!

    I know I'm doing the right thing, because I'm very much enjoying myself-- and who is honestly ever going to look this close?

   So I guess that's my final thought-- get over your perfection and just enjoy the process. Ironically, your joy will show through, and with time, you might step back and see something that is PERFECT!

    That's it for Star of Wonder-- I will show my finished quilt in a couple of weeks, when all the blue marks are washed out-- lol. And I did treat myself to my "Merit Badge" pin minder for finishing these two projects!

Now let's get out there and SEW--
have a wonderful week!

xox
Carol